For years, big data companies have been collecting and mining public and quasi-public information about most Americans’ consumer, financial, health, political, and personal interests. When used in a scientific process, data mining and predictive modeling can leverage the statistical analysis of known demographic groups to provide reliable predictions about how representative sections of the population […]

The U.S. Department of Justice now encourages the use of risk assessments based on predictive modeling algorithms at all stages of the criminal justice process. Criminal sentencing has long been based on the crime and the defendant’s past criminal record. Judges can now consider a new dimension: the future. Predicting Dangerous Criminals Criminologists have long […]