ASA Connect

I have posted a good deal of material here regarding the Department of Justice’s actions regarding Ferguson, Missouri, and the mistaken premise of those actions that over policing and unduly harsh court procedures increase, rather than decrease, the proportion African Americans make up of persons experiencing adverse interactions with the police and courts. The DOJ’s March 2015 report on Ferguson figures importantly in my October 8, 2015 letter to ASA leadership urging ASA, among other things, to explain to the arms of the government that reducing the frequency of adverse outcomes tends to increase, not decrease, relative demographic differences in rates of experiencing the outcomes and the proportions disadvantaged groups make up of persons experiencing the outcomes.[1]  The suit the DOJ filed against Ferguson in February 2016, which I have mentioned here a couple of times, is discussed as an important recent development in my April 6, 2016 letter to the Consortium of Social Science Associations recommending action of the type sought in the ASA letter.[2] 

Apparently, at the time of the COSSA letter, the parties had already moved for entry of a consent decree (on March 16, 2016). The court issued an order allowing comments on the proposed decree and will hold a hearing on April 19.  Item 3 is my submission to the court urging it to defer action on the proposed decree until the DOJ addresses certain statistical issues, including whether the statistical premise of its disparate impact claim is incorrect and how disparate impact will be measured under the decree.  

1. http://jpscanlan.com/images/Letter_to_American_Statistical_Association_Oct._8,_2015_.pdf
2. http://jpscanlan.com/images/Letter_to_Consortium_of_Social_Science_Associations_Apr._6,_2016_.pdf
3. http://jpscanlan.com/images/Submission_of_James_P._Scanlan_in_U.S._v._City_of_Ferguson_Apr._11,_2016_.pdf