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Opinion
Cathy O'Neil

Here’s an Algorithm for Defunding the Police

Crime-risk scores reveal the problems that society has shunted onto law enforcement.

Not the solution.

Not the solution.

Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

When people talk about defunding the police, they usually mean reallocating money toward programs that will better achieve justice, racial and otherwise. But how can governments figure out where to put the resources and energy that are now being misused in punitive and self-defeating ways?

I have an idea: Let’s repurpose the same algorithms that authorities have used to profile potential criminals.