Final answer:
False. Risk mitigation is the process of reducing the impact of risks and involves more than just assigning scores. It includes identifying risks, evaluating them, and implementing strategies to minimize their effect, akin to buying insurance for unpredictable events.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement to the question is false. Risk mitigation refers to the strategies and measures taken to reduce the negative impacts of risks, not merely assigning a risk rating or score to each information asset. The risk assessment process often includes identifying potential risks, evaluating their likelihood and impact, and then implementing strategies to reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
The rationale behind this is similar to purchasing insurance; we invest in precautions against low-probability but high-impact events to minimize the potential damages they could cause. The example provided highlights how, in the criminal justice system, risk assessments can potentially reduce bias in sentencing and parole decisions.
However, it's acknowledged that such assessments can also perpetuate existing disparities. Improvements in technology such as machine learning algorithms could be harnessed to more accurately predict risk and therefore aid in reducing biases, jail populations, and crime rates. However, the technology needs to be closely scrutinized to ensure that it does not replicate biases present in historical data.