Automated decision systems, technologies that make or help make decisions about people, can have life or death impacts especially when used in the context of policing.

The legal basis for and ability to commit someone has changed dramatically over the last few hundred years in the United States. Here is a brief history of institutionalization in Washington State and context for some of the massive racial disparities that exist in the civil commitment system.

In Washington state, several courts use automated decision systems, including applications that are controlled and kept secret by corporations to form jury pools.