About The Framework
ABOUT THE BURGESS PRINCIPLE
The Burgess Principle is a binary accountability framework for institutional decision-making.
It asks one question: was a named human being’s mind applied to the specific facts of a specific person’s case before institutional power was exercised?
The framework gives organisations a clear way to identify where accountability currently sits. NULL is not treated as a final verdict. It is the starting point. SOVEREIGN is the destination.
The purpose of the framework is to help institutions move from automated or bulk decision-making towards named, human accountability that can be verified, evidenced and certified.
The Origin
The Burgess Principle was created following Lewis James Burgess’s experience with a warrant issued without individual review.
That experience exposed a wider accountability problem: institutional power can be exercised over an individual without a named human being applying their mind to the specific facts of that person’s case.
The framework was developed to make that gap visible, measurable and certifiable.
The Founder
Lewis James Burgess is the creator and sole director of The Burgess Principle Ltd.
His work focuses on institutional accountability, meaningful human review and the certification of decision-making processes where automated, algorithmic or bulk systems affect individuals.
The Burgess Principle exists to help organisations find their starting point, build the human back into the process and prove the standard has been met.