Automating Inequality

Three case studies from the United States: the automation of welfare eligibility in Indiana, an electronic registry used to allocate housing to homeless people in Los Angeles, and a predictive risk model used in child protection in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

The argument is that these systems are not neutral administrative upgrades but decisions about who gets scrutinised, and that they concentrate that scrutiny on people who have no practical means of appeal. It is the closest American counterpart to the Dutch and Australian cases recorded here, and is cited in nl-toeslagenaffaire.