Two sisters: one ends up a nurse and the other ends up dead. They were charged with similar offenses, and both wound up in jail. They were placed in different jails across county lines, with a wide disparity in available funding and rehabilitative potential.
Two sisters: one ends up a nurse and the other ends up dead. They were charged with similar offenses, and both wound up in jail. They were placed in different jails across county lines, with a wide disparity in available funding and rehabilitative potential.
Joshua Essex is the co-founder and CTO of Recidiviz, a tech nonprofit that aims to lessen incarceration rates and improve outcomes for the American justice system.
Joshua shared this story about his cousins and what led him and a small group of friends to start Recidiviz.
"I want to alleviate as much human suffering as quickly as I can."
Joshua dives into the complexities of gathering and interpreting criminal justice data.
During COVID, data played an integral role in saving lives. Recidiviz built an epidemiological model tailored to prisons and jails that was used by government agencies during their COVID response.
For anyone with a technical skill set, Joshua encourages you to consider what problems you're most passionate about. If there's something you care about, there's an organization working to solve that problem that needs your help.
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See you in the next episode!