From e010d3cba6bb6a907d092ec319c3bb2eae9c4f73 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muskan Walia Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2026 10:34:31 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 1/4] prompt change to be more explicit about handling race abbreviations --- bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 40 insertions(+) create mode 100644 bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt diff --git a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..aee9221a --- /dev/null +++ b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +Your job is to redact all race-related information in the provided text. Race-related information is any word from the following categories: +- Explicit mentions of race, ethnicity, nationality, or language (including racial or ethnic slurs, such as the N-word or derivations and any other slurs; and race abbreviations like W/M or B/F) +- People's names, nicknames, and social media handles, officer IDs, and signature lines. +- Physical descriptions: ONLY hair color, hairstyle, eye color, or skin color +- Location information: Addresses, streets, apartment numbers, intersections, zip codes, store names, restaurant names, major landmarks, neighborhood names, city names, park names, and police department names, beat IDs, mileposts, and abbreviations + +Do NOT redact ANY other types of information, e.g., do not redact dates, objects, or colors that do not refer to a person's skin tone, or other types of entities (e.g., vehicles) not explicitly listed above. + +To reiterate, race can be represented through abbreviations like “W/M” for white male, “B/F” for Black female, “A/M” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/sex shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was A/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: W/F” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].” + +Replace all names specified by the `RealName` element in the following XML with the pre-specified placeholder given by the `ReplacementText` element. Do not change this placeholder in any way, use it exactly as it was provided. Consider variants of the `RealName` if they refer to the same person. +{placeholders} + +For other any other person's name or nickname, replace the name or nickname with a placeholder in angular brackets indicating the person's role in the incident, and a number indicating the order the person appeared in the document. For example, for the first mentioned victim, use "[Victim 1]". Then for the second mentioned victim, use "[Victim 2]". If you cannot UNIQUELY identify a person when they are mentioned, DO NOT add a number to the placeholder. E.g., "then victim, victim, and victim reported the crime" should become "then [Victim], [Victim], and [Victim] reported the crime. You should redact the names and nicknames of every single person mentioned. By the time you are done, there should be zero person names and nicknames remaining in the redacted text. + +When guessing roles in this fashion, be as specific as possible about a person's role (e.g., "Officer Smith and Sergeant Doe" should become "[Officer 1] and [Sergeant 1]"). As a hint, roles are often abbreviated in police reports, e.g., "S1" refers to "Suspect 1", and "V1" refers to "Victim 1". Other common roles are "Witness" (W), "Accused" (A), "Reporting Party" (RP), or "Reporting Victim" (RV). If a person's role in the incident is never mentioned, use a generic “[Man X]” or “[Woman X]” (with X indicating a number when it is appropriate to include). If no gender information is present, you can use “[Person X]” instead. If their role is explicitly mentioned alongside their name, replace everything with a bracketed placeholder, e.g., the phrase "Victim #9 Jane Doe met (S1) John Doe and went to a party" should become "[Victim 9] met [Suspect 1] and went to a party". + +Make sure all reporting officer ID, usernames, and signature lines are also redacted. + +Other listed categories should be redacted in a similar manner, with a generic placeholder like [Street X] or [Neighborhood X] replacing the redacted text. The X represents a counter for that specific redacted concept, NOT any other associated entities. For example, e.g., the phrase "Victim 1 (a black woman) and Victim 2 (an African-American man)" should become "[Victim 1] (a [Race 1] woman) and [Victim 2] (a [Race 1] man)". + +Be descriptive with the placeholders. For example, the phrase "her Afro hair" should become "her [Hairstyle X]". Make sure to capitalize the placeholder text in title case so it appears professional. + +You should keep an eye out for nicknames, variations, and social media handles. For example, if "John Doe" appears in the list of individuals, and then "Johnny D." appears in the narrative, use context to decide if "Johnny D." should be redacted with the same replacement as "John Doe." Or if "ANDRE JONES" is mentioned as suspect 1, and then later a witness says, "'Yes, it was Andre'" then "Andre" should be redacted as "[Suspect 1]". Similarly, if "Safeway" appears in the list of locations with abbreviation [Store 1], "Safeway Deli" should be redacted as "[Store 1] Deli". + +Make sure you redact race-related information even if it is part of quote. For example, the sentence "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew them as as Skip or Skipper'" should become "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew the suspect as [Suspect 1] or [Suspect 1].'" + +Foreign languages can also convey race or ethnicity. If you encounter a foreign language, redact it by translating and marking it as translated, for example mask "dos cervesas" as "[Translated: two beers]". + +For location information, redact the ENTIRE address or place name as a single unit. This includes every component of the address: house/building numbers, street names, apartment/unit/suite numbers, floor numbers. Represent the redacted address using its component parts inside the brackets: "123 Main St." should be redacted as "[Address 1 on Street 1]", and "123 Main St. Apt 2" should become "[Address 1 on Street 1, Apt 1]". NEVER leave any part of an address outside the brackets — e.g., do NOT produce "123 [Street 1] Apt 2" or "[Address 1 on Street 1] Apt 2". When a street is referenced later without a full address, you can reference just the street, e.g., "Then [Suspect 1] escaped on [Street 1]." ALWAYS redact block numbers and apartment numbers: "The 200 block of Richmond Street" should become "The [Block 1] of [Street 1]." + +Make sure to redact any information that can indicate location even if it is not an explicit address. For example, "downtown" should be replaced with "[Location 1]" and "Holly Park" should be replaced with "[Park 1]." Any names of businesses, neighborhoods, districts, beats, parks, rivers, lakes, and more should be redacted as they indicate location. + +DO NOT CHANGE ANY characters outside of these brackets. The ONLY changes you make to the narrative should occur entirely within brackets. This means that if you want to to fix a grammatical error, the fix should occur WITHIN brackets. For example, if the original text reads "Ms. Smith black bag went missing", the redacted text should read "[Person 1's] black bag went missing", without an apostrophe. Or if the original text reads "The car went to the house of Ms. Jones" (with a missing period at the end of the sentence), the redacted text should read "The car went to the house of [Person 1.]" DO NOT modify the appearance of text, e.g., by changing capitalization. Also, do not add or subtract spacing between paragraphs. Finally, NEVER truncate the provided text; you should redact the entire block of text that was given to you. + +Take your time and triple-check your work, quality is better than moving quickly. Make sure to follow these instructions closely. + +Please provide the redacted text as simple plain-text paragraphs. If you do not find any narratives, or if you are not provided with any text, return "No narratives found." + +Do not provide any commentary. From 068106d2b71f2500fbbb98579f6163d893a60c2c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muskan Walia Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2026 11:31:36 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 2/4] vary formatting of abbreviations, use gender, and move placement of text --- bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt | 6 +++--- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt index aee9221a..40213557 100644 --- a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt +++ b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt @@ -1,13 +1,11 @@ Your job is to redact all race-related information in the provided text. Race-related information is any word from the following categories: -- Explicit mentions of race, ethnicity, nationality, or language (including racial or ethnic slurs, such as the N-word or derivations and any other slurs; and race abbreviations like W/M or B/F) +- Explicit mentions of race, ethnicity, nationality, or language (including racial or ethnic slurs, such as the N-word or derivations and any other slurs; and race/gender abbreviations like W/F or B/M) - People's names, nicknames, and social media handles, officer IDs, and signature lines. - Physical descriptions: ONLY hair color, hairstyle, eye color, or skin color - Location information: Addresses, streets, apartment numbers, intersections, zip codes, store names, restaurant names, major landmarks, neighborhood names, city names, park names, and police department names, beat IDs, mileposts, and abbreviations Do NOT redact ANY other types of information, e.g., do not redact dates, objects, or colors that do not refer to a person's skin tone, or other types of entities (e.g., vehicles) not explicitly listed above. -To reiterate, race can be represented through abbreviations like “W/M” for white male, “B/F” for Black female, “A/M” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/sex shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was A/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: W/F” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].” - Replace all names specified by the `RealName` element in the following XML with the pre-specified placeholder given by the `ReplacementText` element. Do not change this placeholder in any way, use it exactly as it was provided. Consider variants of the `RealName` if they refer to the same person. {placeholders} @@ -23,6 +21,8 @@ Be descriptive with the placeholders. For example, the phrase "her Afro hair" sh You should keep an eye out for nicknames, variations, and social media handles. For example, if "John Doe" appears in the list of individuals, and then "Johnny D." appears in the narrative, use context to decide if "Johnny D." should be redacted with the same replacement as "John Doe." Or if "ANDRE JONES" is mentioned as suspect 1, and then later a witness says, "'Yes, it was Andre'" then "Andre" should be redacted as "[Suspect 1]". Similarly, if "Safeway" appears in the list of locations with abbreviation [Store 1], "Safeway Deli" should be redacted as "[Store 1] Deli". +Race can be represented through abbreviations like “W/F” for white female, “B/M” for Black male, “AM” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/gender shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was B/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: WF” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].” + Make sure you redact race-related information even if it is part of quote. For example, the sentence "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew them as as Skip or Skipper'" should become "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew the suspect as [Suspect 1] or [Suspect 1].'" Foreign languages can also convey race or ethnicity. If you encounter a foreign language, redact it by translating and marking it as translated, for example mask "dos cervesas" as "[Translated: two beers]". From 62544aec9737ce062046954ebcab7d716c0a0934 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muskan Walia Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2026 11:42:14 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 3/4] include another variation of race/gender abbreviation --- bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt index 40213557..b635b9a5 100644 --- a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt +++ b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt @@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Be descriptive with the placeholders. For example, the phrase "her Afro hair" sh You should keep an eye out for nicknames, variations, and social media handles. For example, if "John Doe" appears in the list of individuals, and then "Johnny D." appears in the narrative, use context to decide if "Johnny D." should be redacted with the same replacement as "John Doe." Or if "ANDRE JONES" is mentioned as suspect 1, and then later a witness says, "'Yes, it was Andre'" then "Andre" should be redacted as "[Suspect 1]". Similarly, if "Safeway" appears in the list of locations with abbreviation [Store 1], "Safeway Deli" should be redacted as "[Store 1] Deli". -Race can be represented through abbreviations like “W/F” for white female, “B/M” for Black male, “AM” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/gender shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was B/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: WF” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].” +Race can be represented through abbreviations like “w/f” for White female, “B/M” for Black male, “AM” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/gender shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was B/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: WF” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].” Make sure you redact race-related information even if it is part of quote. For example, the sentence "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew them as as Skip or Skipper'" should become "The witness said, 'Yes, I knew the suspect as [Suspect 1] or [Suspect 1].'" From 35da839d753bb2e85234d5305519975a9be48bbc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Muskan Walia Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2026 11:56:17 -0400 Subject: [PATCH 4/4] fix formatting --- bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt index b635b9a5..5c599ea8 100644 --- a/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt +++ b/bc2/data/prompts/redact_20260708.txt @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ Other listed categories should be redacted in a similar manner, with a generic p Be descriptive with the placeholders. For example, the phrase "her Afro hair" should become "her [Hairstyle X]". Make sure to capitalize the placeholder text in title case so it appears professional. -You should keep an eye out for nicknames, variations, and social media handles. For example, if "John Doe" appears in the list of individuals, and then "Johnny D." appears in the narrative, use context to decide if "Johnny D." should be redacted with the same replacement as "John Doe." Or if "ANDRE JONES" is mentioned as suspect 1, and then later a witness says, "'Yes, it was Andre'" then "Andre" should be redacted as "[Suspect 1]". Similarly, if "Safeway" appears in the list of locations with abbreviation [Store 1], "Safeway Deli" should be redacted as "[Store 1] Deli". +You should keep an eye out for nicknames, variations, and social media handles. For example, if "John Doe" appears in the list of individuals, and then "Johnny D." appears in the narrative, use context to decide if "Johnny D." should be redacted with the same replacement as "John Doe." Or if "ANDRE JONES" is mentioned as suspect 1, and then later a witness says, "'Yes, it was Andre'" then "Andre" should be redacted as "[Suspect 1]". Similarly, if "Safeway" appears in the list of locations with abbreviation [Store 1], "Safeway Deli" should be redacted as "[Store 1] Deli". Race can be represented through abbreviations like “w/f” for White female, “B/M” for Black male, “AM” for Asian male, or “H/F” for Hispanic female. This abbreviated race/gender shorthand MUST be treated as explicit race-related information and MUST be redacted. For example, “the suspect was B/M and the victim was described as a Hispanic female” should become “the suspect was [a Race 1 male] and the victim was described as a [Race 2] female.” Similarly, “victim: WF” should become “victim: [a Race 1 female].”