Title: Student Studies Technology and Criminal Justice From a Squad Car

Even though Arjun Ravi (C’22) is majoring in economics and mathematics, he does not approach his research on algorithms solely from behind a desk or through the lens of statistical software. He’s also studied it in a squad car. 

As an intern with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, DC, Ravi participated in 40 hours of all-night ride-alongs with police as part of the Summer Crime Prevention Initiative, an annual effort in which MPD focuses its resources on areas in DC with a high density of violent crime. 

“​​This was the first time I heard of a student doing an all-night internship riding in a police squad car,” says Mitch Kaneda, senior associate dean and director of the School of Foreign Service (SFS) undergraduate program. “Arjun puts actions into words. He does not just talk about police; he has experienced policing.”

Though Ravi developed amicable relationships with the officers, he was disturbed by some of the practices he witnessed that technology, algorithms and data aided — such as running license plates without cause in one of DC’s poorest neighborhoods.

Watching these kinds of practices firsthand sparked Ravi’s desire to better understand the relationship between the mechanics of algorithms, the policies that govern them and the people who they harm.

“From automated license plate readers to data-driven patrol routes to gunshot detection, technology is ubiquitous in policing. Yet, these technologies operate with limited accuracy and minimal oversight,” says Ravi. “This reinforces historical racial inequities, threatening the constituents of an institution designed to protect them.”

‘A Dystopian Surveillance State’

During his four years at Georgetown, Ravi has worked with leading quantitative researchers of criminal justice and engaged with community groups and grassroots organizers in addition to his on-the-ground experience riding along with MPD.

During the same summer that Ravi rode in squad cars, he also served as a research assistant to Megan Stevenson, a law professor who was then at George Mason and conducts quantitative research on criminal justice and algorithmic risk assessments. In the fall of his senior year, Ravi worked remotely with the New York-based Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, a nonprofit that advocates for privacy, through which he researched surveillance, gun detection and facial recognition technologies. 

After both of these experiences, Ravi found that algorithms and data are anything but neutral. In fact, they can discriminate against marginalized communities with very little government oversight or policy intervention. 

“Across America, police are surveilling innocent Black people, health care companies are devaluing the pain of people of color and hiring algorithms are discriminating against women,” says Ravi. “Under the guise of fairness, public-facing algorithms have become tools of oppression, leaving poor people of color in a dystopian surveillance state.”

Before he finished his work with MPD, Ravi helped the department organize an internal study of officers who were determined to be “marginally psychologically qualified” in their psychological evaluations. He proposed a study comparing those officers’ academy test scores, use of force complaints and weapon discharges with officers who passed their psychological evaluations. 

‘The Next Great Battle for Civil Rights’

While at Georgetown, Ravi has provided data modeling and research support as a Fritz Family Fellow in the university’s Tech and Society Initiative, where he worked with the McCourt School of Public Policy’s Massive Data Institute. He has taken several graduate-level courses on technology and public policy through McCourt and the Communication, Culture, and Technology Program.

Ravi also chaired the annual international economics conference, the Carroll Round; served as managing editor of the Georgetown University Undergraduate Law Review; served as treasurer of Georgetown’s undergraduate mock trial team; and was a finalist for the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. 

Building on his academic and real-world knowledge of technology and social justice, Ravi recognizes that greater collaboration is needed across technology and sociology fields to take on the human challenges of technological and algorithmic development. 

“Too often, sociology neglects how algorithms function and computer science fails to consider social power dynamics,” says Ravi. “As a quantitative social scientist, I want to work at the intersection of interdisciplinary scholarship on algorithmic regulation and data governance.”

Rajesh Veeraraghavan, assistant professor in the SFS who taught Ravi in the course Data and Democracies, believes that Ravi can be a leader in this emerging interdisciplinary field.

“I sincerely look forward to Arjun being a leading voice when algorithmic regulation and data governance become a reality in the not-so-distant future,” says Veeraraghavan. “With a wealth of research experience and budding ideas, he would be at the forefront of research and policy.”

After graduation, Ravi will be joining Stanford Law School as an empirical research fellow, investigating the economics of crime and algorithmic fairness. 

“I want to bridge the gap between sociologists and computer scientists to become a policymaker who decodes this subtle but no less hostile form of systemic bias,” says Ravi. “For me, this isn’t some stepping-stone or pivot point – this is the next great battle for civil rights. It’s a battle we cannot afford to lose.”