Zachary Hamilton, Ph.D. & Brett Bucklin, Ph.D.
This article highlights the significant investigation done in 2016 by ProPublica on the COMPAS risk assessment used in Broward County, Florida. Despite claims that RNAs are unbiased regarding race, the investigation revealed that White individuals with similar scores to minority individuals had a higher rate of recidivism. Recent research has consistently shown that current RNAs tend to classify minorities into higher risk categories inaccurately, mainly due to the inherent racial bias present in criminal history measures.
