That was the first thing that I thought as well. This is another program like private prisons.
I have a hard time seeing how you can align the incentives of a business like this with greater societal interests.
I have a hard time seeing how you can align the incentives of a business like this with greater societal interests.
Their association with Y Combinator doesn't help with that impression. How many other venture funded start ups exist to provide a societal benefit while making only a modest return? Isn't the goal a big exit?
They might not be venture funded yet, but they aren't at Y Combinator for the coffee, right? I know this sounds super cynical, so please tell me why I'm wrong. Why is this a good thing?
YC has a non-profits program. https://www.ycombinator.com/nonprofits/
I don't see any indication that Promise is going non-profit, though.
This is amazingly uninformed. Let’s stop pretending private businesses were born yesterday and just consult history. Privatization of human rights is despicable and this is not a lesson that needs to be learned again. Do you know why we never had private prisons before? They incentivize corruption of the most vulnerable fabric of our society. No excuse.
No, but we should learn from those mistakes, right?
When a company makes money from prisoners and more prisoners mean more money, then the incentives are a problem.
You mean, before 1852?
The private prison industry routinely lobbies for higher fines & longer sentences because it is to their benefit to have more people go to prison. Promise appears to have a similar incentive.
(municipalities simply won't write contracts with big rewards tied to incarceration or recidivism rates)
Eg, Promise is only paid if the prisoner doesn't go back to prison?
This would perhaps ascribe a number for level of difficulty, and an initial estimate for how hard the case is.
Keep in mind that a convicted offender on the streets may suffer from a potential for revenge and retaliation, and thus is possibly safer in jail, however horrible jail may be. This would augment a recidivism predictor further, if you cannot isolate them from their victims, should victims be bitter about the perception of your service lacking punitive action.
It's easy to keep getting confused around if we're dealing with accused criminals or convicted felons, as both are in jail. Sounds like Promise is focusing on the accused.
I wouldn't be real surprised if their initial targets are places that have large, established probation systems, offering the tech as an aid to government employed probation officers. Easier than taking on legal responsibility for the probationers.