Human Rights Data Analysis Group

What Human Rights Data Analysis Group does

Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that applies rigorous statistical science to human rights data analysis. Founded in 1991 by Patrick Ball and operating as a project of Community Partners (a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor), the organization is headquartered in San Francisco with 1-10 employees and a global footprint across 20+ countries on five continents. HRDAG partners with truth commissions, international criminal tribunals, United Nations missions, NGOs, journalists, and grassroots activists to produce statistically defensible analyses of human rights violations, including expert testimony in landmark proceedings such as the Rios Montt genocide conviction in Guatemala and the Slobodan Milosevic trial at the ICTY.

HRDAG's core methodology is Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE), a family of statistical techniques that uses overlaps between multiple incomplete lists of violations to estimate total counts, including undocumented cases. The organization has produced landmark estimates including approximately 70,000 deaths in Peru, 85,000 uncounted deaths in Guatemala, and only about 40% reporting of over 2,000 disappearances in Casanare, Colombia. Its operational product portfolio has expanded to include public transparency databases: the Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD, 40,000+ misconduct allegations across 500+ agencies), the National Police Index (tracking officer employment histories across 23 states), the Police Records Access Project (LLM-powered searchable database of California use-of-force records), the Boston Police SWAT Raids Database, and the Chicago Missing Persons Data Series. AI and machine learning capabilities — third-party LLMs for structured data extraction, ML for misconduct pattern detection, and NLP for algorithmic bias auditing — are increasingly layered on top of the statistical core.

HRDAG offers its analytical services to human rights partners at no charge, operating as a grant-funded non-profit. Revenue is sourced from donations and grants, with disclosed institutional funders including MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Heising Simons Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Hewlett Foundation, and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. The organization distributes its work through direct partnership engagements, expert testimony in legal proceedings, public reports and academic publications, and self-serve public databases, accepting donations via check, cryptocurrency, and Donor Advised Funds.

Name

Human Rights Data Analysis Group

Legal name

Human Rights Data Analysis Group

Website

https://hrdag.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) is a non-profit that applies statistical science — including Multiple Systems Estimation and machine learning — to analyze human rights data for truth commissions, international criminal tribunals, United Nations missions, NGOs, and journalists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Human Rights Data Analytics

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (541720)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Human Rights Monitoring, Documentation & Advocacy (BPADAGAK)

Keywords

• Human rights analytics
• Statistical data analysis
• Multiple systems estimation
• Police accountability databases
• Algorithmic bias auditing

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: HRDAG is a non-profit organization that operates as a project of Community Partners. Revenue comes from donations and grants to support its mission of applying statistical science to human rights data analysis. The organization accepts donations via check, cryptocurrency, and Donor Advised Funds.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

HRDAG applies rigorous statistical science to analyze human rights data for partners including truth commissions, international criminal tribunals, UN missions, NGOs, and journalists. The organization uses Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE) and other statistical methods to estimate undocumented violations, builds public databases of police misconduct records, and provides expert testimony in war crimes trials.

Product overview

HRDAG offers a portfolio of data analysis products and services focused on human rights documentation and police accountability. Core offerings include statistical analysis services using Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE) to estimate undocumented human rights violations, and multiple public database products including the Police Records Access Project (California police records), Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD), National Police Index (officer employment tracking), Chicago Missing Persons Data Series, and Boston Police SWAT Database. Additional services include algorithm auditing for potential discrimination and data extraction from unstructured documents using LLMs. All offerings are designed to support truth commissions, courts, journalists, and advocates in pursuit of justice and accountability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Human Rights Data Analysis Services
• Multiple Systems Estimation (MSE)
• Police Records Access Project
• Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD)
• National Police Index
• Chicago Missing Persons Data Series
• Boston Police SWAT Raids Database
• Algorithm Auditing Services
• Expert Testimony in War Crimes Trials
• ShotSpotter Evaluation

Quantifiable outcome

• Estimated approximately 70,000 deaths in Peru (vs. under 25,000 directly documented), meaning approximately 45,000 deaths would not have been counted without MSE analysis.
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Invisible InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration (since 2017) on police accountability projects in Chicago. HRDAG has assisted with the Citizens Police Data Project, Beneath the Surface (gender-based violence by police), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Missing in Chicago investigation, and gunshot detection technology evaluation. The collaboration has produced the National Police Index and multiple shared publications.
• ACLUcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG partnered with the ACLU to analyze the Allegheny Family Screening Tool, showing that it discriminated against parents with disabilities. HRDAG continues to work with the ACLU team as they follow developments with family screening tools and algorithms in other locations.
• DejusticiacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG partnered with Dejusticia (a think tank and advocacy organization in Colombia) to estimate the underreporting of killings of social movement leaders in Colombia. Jointly published reports in 2018 and 2019. The collaboration contributed to the Colombian Truth Commission's work.
• Innocence Project New OrleanscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG partnered with IPNO to process and structure police misconduct data from Louisiana, supporting wrongful conviction investigations. The collaboration produced the Louisiana Law Enforcement Accountability Database (LLEAD) containing over 40,000 misconduct allegations from over 500 agencies.
• ACLU of Massachusetts / Data for Justice ProjectcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG worked with the ACLU of Massachusetts and Data for Justice Project to extract structured data from Boston Police SWAT after-action reports, revealing racial disparities in police raids targeting Black neighborhoods.
• Police Records Access Project (CLEAN Coalition)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG is a member of the CLEAN coalition (Community Law Enforcement Accountability Network), a nationwide collaborative of 18 organizations including journalists, data scientists, public defenders, community advocates, and lawyers working to obtain and distribute law enforcement records. HRDAG helped launch the Police Records Access Project database.
• Innocence ProjectmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in the CLEAN coalition and collaborator on the National Police Index, working to track 'wandering officers' across agencies.
• Berkeley Institute for Data SciencemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMember of the CLEAN coalition working on the Police Records Access Project.
• National Police Index ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG's Tarak Shah collaborated with the Invisible Institute's Sam Stecklow and the Innocence Project's Ayyub Ibrahim to build the National Police Index, a public tool tracking law enforcement officers' employment histories to identify 'wandering officers' who evade accountability by moving between agencies. As of early 2025, the tool includes records from 23 states.
• Colombian Truth Commission (Comision de la Verdad)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG was part of an ecosystem of experts supporting the Colombian Truth Commission, providing statistical analysis and MSE methodology to estimate missing and uncounted victims of the 50-year armed conflict.
• City BureaumajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerChicago journalism nonprofit that partnered with HRDAG and Invisible Institute on the Missing in Chicago investigation.
• Community Partners (Fiscal Sponsor)coreOthersHRDAG operates as a non-profit project of Community Partners, a registered 501(c)(3) organization with Tax ID 95-4302067, based in Los Angeles, California.
• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG's Patrick Ball served as an expert witness at the ICTY in The Hague in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes charges.
• Guatemala CourtscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG's statistical analysis and expert testimony were used as evidence in the landmark 2013 conviction of General Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and crimes against humanity in Guatemala.
• Various Human Rights Organizations (AHPN, Amnesty International, HRW, CEH, etc.)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHRDAG maintains partnerships with numerous human rights organizations including the Historical Archives of the National Police (AHPN), Amnesty International, the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CEH), Human Rights Watch, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), and others. These organizations provide data and collaborate on analysis.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Innocence Project: National non-profit focused on wrongful conviction exoneration. HRDAG's LLEAD database with the Innocence Project New Orleans chapter directly supports exoneration work — directly comparable mission of using data analysis to address criminal justice system failures.
• Invisible Institute: Chicago-based journalism non-profit and long-standing HRDAG collaborator. Partners on police accountability data projects including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Missing in Chicago investigation and the National Police Index — directly comparable mission of using data science to expose police misconduct.
• International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ): International non-profit working on accountability for mass atrocities through truth commissions, tribunals, and reparations programs. HRDAG has partnered with ICTJ on multiple country engagements — directly comparable mission of supporting transitional justice processes with rigorous methodology.

Broad incumbents

• ACLU: Major civil liberties organization. HRDAG partnered with the ACLU on the landmark Allegheny Family Screening Tool algorithmic bias analysis — broadly comparable as a civil rights advocacy organization using data-driven litigation and policy work.
• Benetech: Silicon Valley non-profit technology company that previously housed HRDAG (2003-2013). Operates broader social-good technology initiatives including human rights, accessibility, and environmental programs — directly comparable to HRDAG's non-profit data-for-good mission and overlapping methodological history.
• Human Rights Watch: One of the world's largest international human rights organizations. HRDAG has partnered with HRW on country-specific documentation projects — broadly comparable as a human rights organization, though HRW's primary methodology is investigative reporting rather than statistical analysis.
• Amnesty International: Global human rights organization conducting research and advocacy on violations worldwide. HRDAG has worked with Amnesty as a data partner — broadly comparable as a global human rights research organization, though Amnesty's primary methodology is investigative rather than statistical.

Emerging players

• Recidiviz: Tech non-profit focused on criminal justice reform using data analytics. HRDAG Data Science Fellow Alanna Flores previously worked there — comparable as a technology-focused criminal justice reform non-profit, though Recidiviz focuses on corrections data rather than human rights documentation.
• Stanford Computational Policy Lab: Academic lab applying computational methods to public policy. HRDAG advisory board member Alanna Flores previously worked there — comparable as an organization applying statistical and computational methods to policy accountability questions.
• UCLA Human Rights Clinic: Academic clinical program applying interdisciplinary methods to human rights research and advocacy. Comparable as an organization conducting rigorous research to support human rights accountability, though operating from a university rather than as an independent non-profit.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hrdag
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/human-rights-data-analysis-group

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Human Rights Data Analysis Group