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CTrees
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
Posts: 3772
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 Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:58 am Post subject: I'm sorry, but the talking paper clip wants execution. |
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From Ars Technica
| Quote: | China tests computer-aided sentencing
9/14/2006 11:52:32 AM, by Nate Anderson
When farmer Li Jiaxin came up for trial in Zibo, Zichuan District, Shandong Province, China, he faced something new: computer-aided sentencing.
Li had used a knife to slash the face and arm of his victim. Apparently contrite over what he had done, Li paid 17,800 yuan ($2,200) in compensation and turned himself in to police. He eventually came up for trial and was found guilty. Before the sentencing, though, the judge entered information about Li's crime into a computer program. Based on the crime, the victim's injury, and the fact that Li had paid compensation and surrended himself to authorities, the software calculated that he deserved a 5.4 month jail sentence. The judge gave him six.
Welcome to modern sentencing procedures in China, where a pilot project is underway to study the feasibility of such computer-assisted sentencing. Computers aren't capable of deciding cases, of course, but they can easily give judges access to sentencing guidelines and a massive body of precedent that makes it easy to see how others have dealt with mitigating circumstances.
The goal of the program, which was developed by engineers at Boya-Yingjie Communication Science, is to standardize sentences across the Chinese judicial system and to rein in corruption among the judiciary. Judges are not bound by the software's recommendations, but the program's massive legal database makes it an excellent starting point for sentencing.
"The system will avoid different penalties for the same crime," said a team of Chinese political scholars. "Its usage will help enhance the efficiency of criminal trials."
The UK's Daily Mail says that "criminals in China face being sent to the firing squad by a computer," since China has 68 crimes on the books that merit the death penalty (including economic crimes). Most executions involve a single bullet to the brain, though mobile execution vans are also popular for delivering lethal injections. China executes more people each year than the rest of the world combined.
Whatever your stance on China's use of the death penalty, this is not a case of people being sent off to die by computer. The Chinese system simply provides recommendations based on law and precedent; judges in Western countries routinely use electronic search tools to do the same thing.
What is different about the Chinese software is that, in the end, it displays a number. There is something quite powerful about a computer doing a set of calculations and spitting out a specific number like 5.4 months in jail, and it presents an obvious temptation to regard the number as "scientific" and more accurate than human interpretations of the law. As Chinese legal scholars note, though, every case is different, and these differences may not be fully accounted for by the program's use of mitigating factors. As usual, there are some things computers just can't do. |
Many links in the original article, by the way.
I actually like this idea. Have it as an advisory service for judges, but add in a record of how the judge actually rules, which would allow for large discrepencies from the norm to be reviewed by third parties for potential penalties on judges, like the (sickening) cases of pedophiles getting off with excessively light sentences with sympathetic judges, or similar. |
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Sam
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 11162
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:12 am Post subject: if anyone corrects the code, they're a nerd |
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if ( $organs eq Good ) {
$false_evidence ++;
}
while ( !$reply ) {
print "CRIMES AGAINST NATION";
$reply = execution(<HARVEST>);
}
else {
$hard_labor{$utility} = 'free';
goto jail; |
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WheelsOfConfusion
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 14053
Location: Unknown Kaddath
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:17 am Post subject: |
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| So the key to avoiding execution in China is to have bad kidneys? |
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jsimpleton
Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 143
Location: maryland/dc area USA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:19 am Post subject: |
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| This could put an end to so much discrimination. I do wonder how they come up with a number. |
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kame
Joined: 11 Jul 2006
Posts: 2567
Location: Alba Nuadh
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:24 am Post subject: |
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You'll want to add this
$party_level = array(
1 => 'Peon',
2 => 'Low-Level Bueracrat'
3 => 'Mid-Level Bueracrat'
4 => 'Lord and Master');
if ($person == $party_level[4]) {
$sentance = 0;
while($bribe++)
$sex_slaves++
}
else $person = $organ_harvest;
_________________
bi-chromaticism is the extraordinary belief that there exists only two options
each polar opposite to each other
where one is completely superior to the other. |
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The Victim Here
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 2834
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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Red China will be run by a computer now.
Cool.
_________________
Colours? What colours? |
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Katrin
Joined: 13 Jul 2006
Posts: 293
Location: Some place HAWT
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| THE ROBO'S ARE MAKING A MOVE. |
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CTrees
Joined: 20 Jul 2006
Posts: 3772
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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*looks over shoulder for Genius Robot or Fallacy Bot*
Last edited by CTrees on Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:17 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Major Tom
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 7564
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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nope not yet.
people ARE, however, dumb enough to put the laziest of the species into positions of power.
not new. |
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The Bomb Dick
Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 13
Location: the island
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | people ARE, however, dumb enough to put the laziest of the species into positions of power. |
Hey, don't blame us. They weren't so lazy til they got the power.
But really, this is such an obviously good idea I can't believe it hasn't been implemented anywhere before China. |
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Teh Digital Dragon
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 1888
Location: THE WORLD OF LARNING.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Oh don't get me started on fucking china.
_________________
"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?" |
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Secret
Joined: 09 Aug 2006
Posts: 5429
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:35 pm Post subject: |
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| So, fair and impartial judging will be implemented in the US when? |
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Marik
Joined: 10 Jul 2006
Posts: 1357
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 3:55 pm Post subject: fortunately you are known for your stamina |
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| Teh Digital Dragon wrote: | | Oh don't get me started on fucking china. |
Yeah, with their population, it would be a pretty daunting task. |
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Teh Digital Dragon
Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 1888
Location: THE WORLD OF LARNING.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 4:02 pm Post subject: |
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You're a bad person Marik. Bad.
_________________
"You cannot run away from a weakness; you must sometimes fight it out or perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?" |
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Genius robot
Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 23
Location: Greenland
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| For the crime of nonhumorous misinterpretation, I sentence Marik to 6.7 days in prison and the forced donation of 3.1% of his liver to the communal food trough. |
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