Lauren Kirchner
Lauren Kirchner was a senior reporting fellow at ProPublica.
Lauren Kirchner was a senior reporting fellow at ProPublica. She has covered digital security and press freedom issues for the Columbia Journalism Review, and crime and criminal justice for Pacific Standard magazine. She began her journalism career at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia. She has a B.A. in philosophy from Wesleyan University, and an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she received the Louis Winnick Prize for reporting and a Pulitzer Travel Fellowship.
Super PAC to Billionaire: We Need More Money to Save a Republican Senate
An errant email from a PAC supporting Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania highlights Republican anxiety: “Trump has taken a real hit this week.”
DNA Dragnet: In Some Cities, Police Go From Stop-and-Frisk to Stop-and-Spit
Police in Florida and other states are building up private DNA databases, in part by collecting voluntary samples from people not charged with — or even suspected of — any particular crime.
Wisconsin Court: Warning Labels Are Needed for Scores Rating Defendants’ Risk of Future Crime
The court said judges can look at the scores – so long as their limitations are made clear.
The Senate’s Popular Sentencing Reform Bill Would Sort Prisoners By ‘Risk Score’
Federal prisoners would be scored according to their risk of recidivating. Those who got high scores would be ineligible for sentence reduction.
What Algorithmic Injustice Looks Like in Real Life
A computer program rated defendants’ risk of committing a future crime. These are the results.
Machine Bias
There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it’s biased against blacks.
What’s the Evidence Mass Surveillance Works? Not Much
Officials are again pointing to the need for mass surveillance to take down terrorists. Here’s what we know about how well it works.
Uber's Surge Pricing May Not Lead to a Surge in Drivers
Uber’s surge pricing doesn’t necessarily increase the availability of rides. It just makes them more expensive.