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Statistical Lessons of Ricci v. De Stefano

By Jonathan Falk
September 29, 2009

The first part of this article about the Supreme Court's ruling Ricci v. De Stefano discussed what statisticians really have to say about disparate impact. The conclusion herein addresses the results of, and lessons to be learned from, the Ricci case. But first a quick review: The City of New Haven, CT, hired a company to develop a promotional test for firefighters. The lieutenant's test was given to 43 white firefighters and 19 black firefighters, producing the following results: 25 whites passed (58%) and six blacks passed (32%). The New Haven procedure for promotion involved a second phase and the results of that phase meant that 10 whites (40% of those passing the test) and no blacks (0%) would actually receive promotions. The City was sued.

A Quick Look at the Ricci Results

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