How We Acquired the Data We chose to examine the COMPAS algorithm because it is one of the most popular scores used nationwide and is increasingly being used in pretrial and sentencing, the so-called ...

Because the tool is a "trade secret," there is no way for the public to evaluate whether COMPAS Re-entry makes errors or exhibits systemic bias. Getty Images. Every parole hearing in New York has one ...

The news website took issue with a predictive algorithm, which is used in sentencing criminal defendants, charging that it produced racially-biased results. A recent study suggests that particular ...

It turns out that a trusted crime-fighting algorithm used to predict if criminals will re-offend might not be any better at its job than a random untrained human. The technology has already been ...

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. Researchers at Dartmouth College have found that a computer program widely used by ...

Recidivism is the likelihood of a person convicted of a crime to offend again. Currently, this rate is determined by predictive algorithms. The outcome can affect everything from sentencing decisions ...

Much of the controversy over algorithmic decision making is concerned with fairness. Generally speaking, most of us regard decisions as fair when they're free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, or ...

Some people champion artificial intelligence as a solution to the kinds of biases that humans fall prey to. Even simple statistical tools can outperform people at tasks in business, medicine, academia ...

A new study challenges thinking that algorithms outperform humans when making important criminal justice decisions. A widely-used computer software tool may be no more accurate or fair at predicting ...