Julia Angwin's Machine Bias

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Julia Angwin’s article, “Machine Bias”, focuses on racial bias in a “crime-predicting” software used by judges and courts. Angwin explains how these computer programs try predict the likelihood of an individual committing another crime in the future, and then assigning them a risk score based on the findings. Unfortunately, as Angwin explains, these programs are usually sent out into the market without first being tested; This means that court officials are using unverified statistics to determine the sentencing of defendants, which has lead to high controversy over such programs. In addition, a lack of transparency by the program creators have lead many to believe that the software was created with an internal racial bias. Angwin explains