Making Local Laws Accessible to Everyone

orig. “Freeing the Law with LOCUS: A Local Ordinance Corpus for the United States” · Denis Peskoff, Joe Barrow, Christopher Vu, Diag Davenport

Machine Learning Intermediate 5 min read AI-assisted, reviewed by Alex Dong

In the margin

Heads up

Imagine being able to easily search and understand the rules that govern your city or town, and how a new tool is making that possible

What's going on

Local laws, such as zoning regulations and public health codes, are rules that govern what you can and can't do in your city or town.

These laws are usually written by local governments and can be hard to find and understand, even for lawyers and researchers.

A new tool called LOCUS is changing this by collecting and organizing local laws from across the United States into a single, searchable database.

This database uses machine learning to help analyze and understand the laws, making it easier for people to find and use the information they need.

Why it matters

Having access to local laws can help people understand their rights and responsibilities, and can also help researchers and policymakers identify areas where laws are unfair or ineffective.

By making local laws more accessible, LOCUS has the potential to increase transparency and accountability in local government, which can lead to more just and equitable communities.

Source

Denis Peskoff, Joe Barrow, Christopher Vu, Diag Davenport

View on arXiv ↗ Read the PDF ↗

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