ALGORITHMS ARE BEING WIELDED AS TOOLS OF OPPRESSION.

At Encode Justice, we’re fighting back.

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IN THE NEWS

"Without intervention, the promise of AI may be quickly eclipsed by its perils. This isn’t an abstract technical phenomenon; it’s a 21st-century civil rights issue." https://t.co/oSAV2ZR1hL
— Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) February 4, 2021

Op-ed written by founder and president, Sneha Revanur, in Teen Vogue (Click to view)

HIGHLIGHTS

Click through the gallery to view a few pictures from our work!

TEAM

Our team spans
35+ U.S. states
25+ countries

FOUNDER/PRESIDENT

SNEHA REVANUR

San Jose, California

CHIEF OF STAFF/BLOG EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ALEXANDRA RAPHLING

Santa Monica, California

INTERIM CHAPTER COORDINATOR

KASHYAP RAJESH

Hawthorn Woods, Illinois

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PRANAV JAGANATHAN

Frisco, Texas

CO-DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT

KRISTEN CRAWFORD

San Antonio, Texas

CO-DIRECTOR OF OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT

DANA AGBEDE

Los Angeles, California

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA RELATIONS

SUHANI IYER

Albany, New York

DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIPS

MACKENZIE FISHER

Greer, South Carolina

DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH

RHEA GOSWAMI

Herndon, Virginia

CO-DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY

MRUDULA RAPAKA

Fairfax, Virginia

CO-DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY

VIRAJ ALA

Torrance, California

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY

ADRIAN KLAITS

Vienna, Virginia

CO-DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

VIDYA BHARADWAJ

Lincolnshire, Illinois

CO-DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

NATASHA MATTA

Mountain View, California

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION

NATALYAH CADICHE

Union City, New Jersey

CO-DIRECTOR OF POLICY

IVY CHEN

McLean, Virginia

CO-DIRECTOR OF POLICY

MELINA GOLEMBIEWSKI

Rochester, New York

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WHAT WE DO

Encode Justice is mobilizing communities for fairer, more ethical AI.

Image credit: NBC News.

Algorithms have left no part of our world untouched, revolutionizing cancer diagnosis in one context and assisting pretrial release decisions for criminal defendants in another. However, the bias that plagues human decision-making can reach even the seemingly impenetrable, objective mathematical formulae that define artificial intelligence.

For example, algorithms used in the U.S. criminal justice system are trained on historical datasets that reflect the disproportionate policing and incarceration of communities of color. They’re taught to make independent decisions by analyzing countless instances of real-world data in search of patterns that explain certain results.

This process forces them to unconsciously digest the bias that has historically victimized marginalized groups. As some have put it, the devil is in the data.

That’s where Encode Justice comes in.

WE’RE A COALITION OF YOUTH ACTIVISTS AND CHANGEMAKERS FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND JUSTICE UNDER AI. HARNESSING A GLOBAL NETWORK OF VOLUNTEERS FROM ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES AND WORLD, WE CHAMPION INFORMED AI POLICY AND ENCOURAGE YOUTH TO CONFRONT THE CHALLENGES OF THE AGE OF AUTOMATION THROUGH POLITICAL ADVOCACY, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING, EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING, AND CONTENT CREATION.

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CAMPAIGNS

The Stand Up to Surveillance Campaign (November 2020—)

Image credit: Perpetual Lineup.

The same software used to surveil Uyghur Muslims in China has contributed to the wrongful arrests of Black men in Detroit: facial recognition technology. It has also enabled unchecked privacy abuses at the hands of ICE and has been used to monitor Black Lives Matter protestors exercising their constitutional rights, disproportionately misidentifying Black, Brown, and Asian Americans; women; and LGBTQ+ individuals. With our Stand Up to Surveillance campaign, we’re lobbying for a federal ban on government use of facial recognition and have already partnered with multiple city councils to push for local action. We’re hosting workshops and events; coordinating organizational partnerships; operating our very own Students Against Facial Recognition committee, which unites representatives from various student-led organizations; and compiling original research reports and policy proposals, through which we’ve collaborated with officials on every level, from local legislators to the White House.

Encode Justice joins a coalition of 40+ civil rights groups in calling on the Biden administration to support a federal moratorium on government use of facial recognition technology. Read our demands here: https://t.co/lJSi4iajCg
— Encode Justice (@encodejustice) February 17, 2021

We spoke at the Minneapolis public hearing, phone banked, and email banked endlessly to help make this a reality—and it finally is! 🥳 https://t.co/ognn2HVhYf
— Encode Justice (@encodejustice) February 12, 2021

The Say No to SB 10 Campaign (July-November 2020)

Pretrial risk assessment simulation via detainrelease.com.

California Senate Bill 10 (which was on the November 2020 ballot for voters in the form of Proposition 25) would have replaced the evil of cash bail with the combined evil of pretrial risk assessment tools and reduced judicial accountability. It would have expanded a system of automated racial profiling that only fuels pretrial incarceration while empowering judges and probation with funding and discretion. As a member organization of the Committee Against Pretrial Racism and the JusticeLA Coalition, Encode Justice recognized that a Yes vote on Proposition 25 would only further erode the California criminal legal system.

As part of this campaign, we collaborated with other community-based groups, phone banking, text banking, email banking, organizing social media advocacy, creating informational content like articles and videos, and hosting events. The campaign ended with a resounding victory; California voters ended up rejecting the measure by a 13% margin. Click here to learn more.