Criminal Justice Data Ethics Analyzer

An interactive tool to help analysts navigate ethical challenges when working with incarceration and financial exclusion data

Explore example project
See how the tool works using carceral policy research
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Input your own criminal justice project
Example: Carceral Policy as Commercial Risk
This tool will walk through ethical considerations for a study measuring how state incarceration rates correlate with financial exclusion outcomes (unbanked rates, mortgage denials, credit invisibility).
1
Research Framing Audit
Examine whether your research question is framed extractively (profit from harm), neutrally, or liberatory (centered on justice).
2
Stakeholder Impact Map
Identify everyone affected by your analysis—formerly incarcerated people, financial institutions, policymakers—and document potential harms and benefits.
3
Data Provenance Check
Audit who collected your data, what power dynamics exist, who was excluded, and whether consent was meaningful.
4
Language Scanner
Check your writing for dehumanizing terminology and get person-first alternatives that center dignity.
5
Dual-Use Risk Assessment
Explore how your findings could be weaponized by insurers, lenders, or predictive policing systems—and develop mitigation strategies.
6
Missing Data Ethics
Uncover who is invisible in your datasets and quantify the scale of exclusion from incarcerated populations to undocumented communities.
7
Algorithmic Harm Simulator
Experience how including criminal justice variables creates discriminatory feedback loops.
8
Ethics Documentation Generator
Synthesize insights from all modules into a formal ethics statement you can submit with your research.