(Daily360.com) – A Texas billionaire named John Arnold has spread more money around to left-wing criminal justice reformations than George Soros. John Arnold is a former Enron executive who has made it his mission to spend large parts of his fortune remaking the justice system in the United States. Since 2019, Arnold has spent more than $46 million to this end compared to $40 million from his more famous counterpart George Soros.
Arnold seems to focus his spending on the implementation of a free algorithm called the Public Safety Assessment program. What supporters of the algorithm claim is that it determines on a numeric scale the likelihood that an accused offender with be dangerous if granted bail as well as their likelihood of not returning for a future court date. However, when looking at the performance of the algorithm since 2017 it seems to have a poor prediction rate. For example, a New Jersey man named Jules Black scored favorably on the algorithm while facing felony gun charges. He was set free, only to be arrested again a short time later after he murdered a man by shooting him more than 22 times.
In 2022, Arnold’s algorithm recommended a New Mexico man named Muhammad Syed be released on bail despite being charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was alleged to have laid in wait with a scoped AK-47 as a means to “hunt” his targeted victims. The judge in that case rejected the algorithm score and determined Syed was a danger to the community.
An Arnold Ventures spokesperson said the aim of the billionaire and his algorithm is to see that alleged criminals of limited means have the opportunity be set free pending trial rather than only those who have the money to afford bail. Arnold has spent money in several states including tens of millions in New York supporting then Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) bail reform laws that eliminated cash bail for a large number of crimes. Arnold Ventures is an LLP and as such is not required to fully disclose information about its finances and spending. The group has recently removed a list of grants given out from its website.
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