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    Flaws plague a tool meant to help low-risk federal prisoners win early release

    The Justice Department created an algorithm to measure a person's risk of committing a new crime after leaving prison. But even after multiple tweaks the tool is leading to racial disparities.
    by Carrie Johnson Jan 26, 2022 4 minutes
    A prisoner looks out of his jail window as protesters gather outside the federal detention center in Miami on June 12, 2020, during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd.

    Thousands of people are leaving federal prison this month thanks to a law called the First Step Act, which allowed them to win early release by participating in programs aimed at easing their return to society.

    But thousands of others may still remain behind bars because of fundamental flaws in the Justice Department's method for deciding who can take the early-release track. The biggest flaw: persistent racial disparities that put Black and brown people at a disadvantage.

    In a report issued days before Christmas in 2021, the department said its algorithmic tool for assessing the risk a person in prison would return to crime produced uneven results. TheAt the same time, it also underpredicted the risk for some inmates of color when it came to possible return to violent crime.

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