# Identifying biases in legal data: An algorithmic fairness perspective

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.09946 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.09946/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 4 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 Sep 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Equality of Opportunity in Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02413/) (2016)
- [Fair prediction with disparate impact: A study of bias in recidivism prediction instruments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.07524/) (2016)
- [A Reductions Approach to Fair Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.02453/) (2018)
- [Fairness in Criminal Justice Risk Assessments: The State of the Art](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.09207/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [LegalRelectra: Mixed-domain Language Modeling for Long-range Legal Text Comprehension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.08204/) (2022)
- [Questioning Biases in Case Judgment Summaries: Legal Datasets or Large Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.00554/) (2023)
- [InSaAF: Incorporating Safety through Accuracy and Fairness | Are LLMs ready for the Indian Legal Domain?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.10567/) (2024)
- [Are Models Trained on Indian Legal Data Fair?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.07247/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The need to address representation biases and sentencing disparities in legal case data has long been recognized. Here, we study the problem of identifying and measuring biases in large-scale legal case data from an algorithmic fairness perspective. Our approach utilizes two regression models: A baseline that represents the decisions of a "typical" judge as given by the data and a "fair" judge that applies one of three fairness concepts. Comparing the decisions of the "typical" judge and the "fair" judge allows for quantifying biases across demographic groups, as we demonstrate in four case studies on criminal data from Cook County (Illinois).