Author: Slate Podcasts

Around the country, states are employing algorithms to help reduce prison populations and predict recidivism. This week, we hear from a Wisconsin judge with serious reservations about the algorithm used in his state. Also: a deep dive into Virginia's risk-assessment algorithm and the surprising results of its implementation.

Guests:

Nicholas McNamara, judge on the circuit court of Dane County, Wisconsin.

Jennifer Doleac, associate professor of economics at Texas A&M and director of the Justice Tech Lab. 

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When President Trump passed his tax overhaul in 2017, Democrats and Republicans were excited about the prospect of one specific provision. ‘Opportunity zones’ were meant to spur investment in low-income communities. Two years later, it’s unclear if that has actually happened. Billionaires, on the other hand, are benefitting from the program left and right.

Guest: Justin Elliott, reporter at ProPublica. 

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Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt, and Mara Silvers.

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As 2019 comes to a close, What Next is checking back in on three stories we did this year. From a power struggle in Venezuela to a border wall dispute in Arizona and back to Washington for an impeachment update. Here’s what happened…next!

Guests: Ana Vanessa Herrero, reporter for the New York Times, Mayor of Nogales Arturo Garino, and Noah Feldman Harvard Law School professor and host of Deep Background, available on Luminary.

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt, and Mara Silvers.

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On January 1st, a new law will grant Californians the right to see, delete, and stop the sale of personal information collected by tech companies. But the impact of the bill may reach far beyond California. How does this landmark law affect the rest of the country? And will it set the stage for national privacy legislation?

 

Guest: Hayley Tsukayama, Legislative Activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation

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Back in 2013, an entrepreneur named Jamie Siminoff appeared on Shark Tank. He was seeking an investment in a new product he was calling Doorbot, a smart doorbell that would make answering the door more convenient and users’ lives “more connected.”

Six years later, Doorbot is now Ring, an Amazon-owned home-security system that partners with more than 600 police departments around the country. How did Doorbot become Ring? And what are the consequences of placing surveillance cameras on front doors around the country?

Guest: Caroline Haskins, technology reporter at Buzzfeed. 

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The “Remain in Mexico” policy was sold as a humane way to throttle the flow of migrant families seeking asylum in the U.S. But the immigration courts remain overwhelmed, and migrants who do make the trip to the southern border have been left to wait for months -- sometimes upwards of a year -- in squalid, makeshift refugee camps in Mexico. 

Guest: Adolfo Flores, immigration reporter for BuzzFeed. 

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Preparing for an active shooter is becoming a disturbingly normal part of the school experience. And while companies are developing new methods for how to keep students and teachers safe, it’s unclear if they’re becoming more effective. 

Guest: Tali Woodward, deputy editor at The Trace. 

Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Jayson De Leon, Danielle Hewitt and Mara Silvers.

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It’s hard to keep track of all the things that have happened in Georgia to tweak voter rights and poll access over the past several years. But a new investigation highlighted two overarching themes to recent changes: diminishing federal oversight and structural racism. 

Guest: Mark Niesse, reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Read his story, co-reported with Nick Thieme. 

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