"Alexander, more than midway through a 20-year prison sentence on drug charges, was making preparations for what he hoped would be his new life. His daughter, with whom he had only recently become acquainted, had even made up a room for him in her New Orleans home.

Then, two months before the hearing date, prison officials sent Alexander a letter informing him he was no longer eligible for parole.

A computerized scoring system adopted by the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections had deemed the nearly blind 70-year-old, who uses a wheelchair, a moderate risk of reoffending, should he be released. And under a new law, that meant he and thousands of other prisoners with moderate or high risk ratings cannot plead their cases before the board. According to the department of corrections, about 13,000 people — nearly half the state’s prison population — have such risk ratings, although not all of them are eligible for parole.

Alexander said he felt “betrayed” upon learning his hearing had been canceled. “People in jail have … lost hope in being able to do anything to reduce their time,” he said.

The law that changed Alexander’s prospects is part of a series of legislation passed by Louisiana Republicans last year reflecting Gov. Jeff Landry’s tough-on-crime agenda to make it more difficult for prisoners to be released."

https://www.propublica.org/article/tiger-algorithm-louisiana-parole-calvin-alexander

The Register: UK officials insist ‘murder prediction tool’ algorithms purely abstract. “The UK’s justice department has confirmed it is working on developing algorithms to predict which criminals will later become murderers. It was internally referred to as the Homicide Prediction Project, and was first discovered via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests filed by civil liberties group […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/11/the-register-uk-officials-insist-murder-prediction-tool-algorithms-purely-abstract/

**The Gizmodo Guide to Stopping Algorithms From Ruining Your Life**

“_To be free, learn to embrace RSS feeds._”

https://gizmodo.com/the-gizmodo-guide-to-stopping-algorithms-from-ruining-your-life-2000584899.

"The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.

Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, as they try to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.

The scheme was originally called the “homicide prediction project”, but its name has been changed to “sharing data to improve risk assessment”. The Ministry of Justice hopes the project will help boost public safety but campaigners have called it “chilling and dystopian”."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/08/uk-creating-prediction-tool-to-identify-people-most-likely-to-kill?mc_cid=b2cf70aeb4&mc_eid=ceff4c8226

#UK officials insist '#murder #prediction tool' #algorithms purely abstract

https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/09/uks_ministry_of_justice_algorithm_murders/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/08/uk-creating-prediction-tool-to-identify-people-most-likely-to-kill

https://www.europesays.com/uk/6437/ Hot New Thermodynamic Chips Could Trump Classical Computers #algorithms #ArtificialIntelligence #computer #computers #Computing #FrontiersOfComputing #longreads #Physics #Technology #thermodynamics #UK #UnitedKingdom

Levenshtein Word Distance in Python. This algorithm calculates the number of steps required to change one word into another and has various uses including spell checking suggestions.

https://codedrome.substack.com/p/levenshtein-word-distance-in-python

#python

#pythonprogramming

#algorithms

C++Now 2025 SESSION ANNOUNCEMENT: Extending std::execution - Implementing Custom Algorithms with Senders & Receivers by Robert Leahy

https://schedule.cppnow.org/session/2025/extending-stdexecution/

Register now at https://cppnow.org/registration/

#Child begging livestreams are actively promoted by TikTok's #algorithm and #TikTok profits from the #content despite having policies against begging

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/06/profiting-from-misery-how-tiktok-makes-money-from-child-begging-livestreams

BETTER LIVING THROUGH ALGORITHMS https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/ #Tech #Technology #ALGORITHMS #ALGORITHM