On the eve of the 20th century, W.E.B. W.E. Du Bois documented the circumstances and traditions surrounding African Americans in Philadelphia, simultaneously exposing the pervasive racist attitudes and beliefs that permeated the white community’s interactions with them. He attributed disparities in wellbeing, among other domains, to the subtle yet pervasive influence of systemic racism within American institutions, rather than simply attributing them to racist notions.
In the aftermath of more than a century and a quarter, the concept of systemic racism remains at the heart of contemporary race-related research. Centuries of accumulating knowledge and rigorous evaluation, akin to Du Bois’ pioneering work, meticulously document the underlying mechanisms of racial disparity in regulations and institutions, and systematically quantify their profound impact.
The Ford Worldwide Professor of Social Sciences at MIT’s Division of Political Science, Fotini Christia, notes that in-depth analysis reveals pervasive racial discrimination and systemic inequity across nearly all sectors of American society. She directs the MIT Institute for Knowledge, Programs, and Society, leading the Institute for Computational and Statistical Research alongside colleagues. Recent studies reveal that computational methods, often rooted in outdated assumptions or relying on historical data, can further solidify racial biases. These similar instruments can also inadvertently perpetuate racially inequitable outcomes, highlighting the need to understand their root causes and far-reaching effects.
Alongside coordinating analysis on systemic racism across campus, the IDSS initiative has launched a pioneering endeavor to amplify and facilitate this research beyond MIT’s boundaries, introducing the newly conceived Data Commons, a dynamic, publicly accessible online repository for storing datasets collected by ICSR researchers.
“Ben Lewis, a 2024 alumnus of MIT’s Technology and Policy Program and current Ph.D. student at MIT Sloan School of Management, remarks that his primary endeavor with ICSR entailed leveraging Amazon Internet Services to establish an information hub for researchers to leverage in their own prison justice-related projects.” “We require a unified platform for researchers to access and explore the data in a seamless manner via an intuitive online interface, ideally with options to integrate with popular programming languages such as Python.”
While pursuing his graduate degree at TPP, Lewis focused his research on racial disparities in drug policy and policing in the United States, examining the impact of drug decriminalization strategies on rates of incarceration and overdose mortality? As part of the ICSR Policing team at MIT, he worked alongside a group of researchers investigating how data influences policing strategies and tactics, as well as its potential to highlight or amplify racial biases in law enforcement practices.
According to crew lead and electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) Professor Devavrat Shah, the Policing vertical started with a profoundly challenging fundamental inquiry. Can we leverage data to better understand how racial biases are embedded within the various decisions made throughout the criminal justice system?
The information hub provides access to 911 dispatch data and police clearance rates, aggregated from 40 major US cities through the meticulous efforts of ICSR researchers. Lewis aims to expand the platform’s capabilities to integrate not only diverse cities’ data but also disparate and typically isolated datasets, such as sentencing records.
According to Jessy Xinyi Han, a fellow researcher at ICSR and PhD candidate in IDSS’s Social and Engineering Systems program, “We need to integrate datasets comprehensively to gain a more thorough and cohesive understanding of law enforcement programs.” By leveraging statistical strategies such as causal inference, researchers can disentangle the complex web of factors driving inequalities and isolate the root causes behind racial disparities throughout the criminal justice process, thereby revealing the causal impact of race at various stages.
Without revealing too much about my motivations for pursuing this project privately, I will say that my interest in MIT stemmed from the opportunity to delve into and analyze systemic racism. As a top-performing pupil, he also founded the Cambridge Department of Finish Overdose, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing drug overdose fatalities? His tireless advocacy led to guiding countless lives through lifesaving drug interventions, earning him the esteemed 2024 Collier Medal, a prestigious honor from MIT recognizing exemplary neighborhood service in memory of Sean Collier, an MIT police officer who lost his life while serving his community.
“I’ve had personal experience with family members serving time in prison.” I’ve witnessed firsthand the profound impact that over-policing and mass incarceration have on households and neighborhoods, only to realize that these approaches often perpetuate a vicious cycle by failing to address underlying issues such as poverty and addiction.
With the infrastructure for the information hub now in place, and the ICSR Policing team having started sharing datasets, the next logical step is for various ICSR groups to commence sharing their own information effectively. The Cross-Disciplinary Systemic Racism Analysis Initiative brings together experts from diverse fields to tackle the complex issue of systemic racism across domains such as housing, healthcare, and social media.
According to Munther Dahleh, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, as well as the founding director of the Institute for Data Science and Statistics and co-lead of the Initiative on Computational and Statistical Research, we must effectively leverage today’s vast pool of accessible knowledge to thoughtfully address the complexities surrounding racism’s outcomes that arise from the intersections of various systems. How do diverse institutions perpetuate racism, and what role does technology play in amplifying or countering these issues?
For the innovators behind the information hub, a key indicator of achievement lies in observing the data leveraged in research projects within and beyond MIT’s esteemed walls. As a valuable resource, the hub is uniquely positioned to support complex analysis for customers from diverse expertise and backgrounds, offering unparalleled insights and guidance.
According to Han, the information hub’s scope extends to education and capacity building. “This data holds immense potential for developing initiatives that equip customers with the skills to leverage big data effectively, conduct thorough information assessments, and explore machine learning tools, ultimately shedding light on racial disparities within information systems.”
“As a cornerstone of its founding principles, IDSS has consistently championed the dissemination of knowledge capabilities.” “We’re thrilled about the possibilities that make this information accessible in educational settings, including but not limited to our expanding IDSSx online course offerings.”
Throughout MIT, the ICSR research community is driven to leverage information and computing tools to provide policymakers with actionable insights, ultimately driving meaningful change.
“Systemic racism is a deeply ingrained and extensively documented societal issue with profound effects across multiple spheres.” “At IDSS, it is crucial that we deliberately harness the power of emerging applied sciences and unfettered access to growing amounts of knowledge to combat racist outcomes rather than perpetuate them further.”
