COMPAS: on a pathbreaking debate on algorithmic risk assessment

Correctional offender management profiling for alternative sanctions (COMPAS) is a risk assessment instrument currently used in the US criminal justice system. COMPAS has sparked a lively debate on fairness that still goes on today; however, this debate has barely been taken up so far in the German-speaking context. The present paper first provides a systematic account of risk assessment by COMPAS and discusses its current use in the USA. The paper then turns to three important aspects of the debate on COMPAS, viz. fairness, transparency, and data. Finally, the paper considers possible consequences of this discussion for the German-speaking context.