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10 October 2025
Issue: 8134 / Categories: Legal News , Criminal , Artificial intelligence , Human rights , Technology
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NLJ this week: AI, liberty & the digital cage

231937
Government plans for offender ‘restriction zones’ risk creating ‘digital cages’ that blur punishment with surveillance, warns Henrietta Ronson, partner at Corker Binning, in this week's issue of NLJ

The proposed scheme, part of a £700m expansion in GPS and AI monitoring, would confine released offenders to fixed areas—potentially breaching rights to liberty, privacy and livelihood under the ECHR.

Ronson argues the measures are incompatible with existing case law and plagued by the UK’s history of failed tagging systems. With AI risk-assessment algorithms already criticised as biased, she cautions against letting machines replace judicial discretion.

Drawing parallels with failed US exclusion laws, Ronson says such zones would breed inequality and resentment without reducing crime. Justice, she writes, ‘requires empathy and context—not predictive policing and perpetual monitoring’

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen—Liz Giles

Bell Yard Kysen appoints senior legal PR and ex-government communications adviser, Liz Giles

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott—Lee Edwards

Clarke Willmott boosts Southampton commercial property team with addition of partner Lee Edwards

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors—four promotions

Lime Solicitors announces four promotions

NEWS
The Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP, and Solicitor General, Andy Slaughter KC MP, marked the 25th anniversary of Pro Bono Week by joining lawyers, charities, students and parliamentarians at events celebrating voluntary legal work
Witness evidence can be compromised by AI before a solicitor sees the draft, leaving safeguards focused on authorship incomplete
Possession claims are entering a new digital era, with procedural traps awaiting practitioners who assume familiar rules still govern every step
A polished legal defence may owe more to artificial intelligence than legal merit—and creditors risk paying the price in delay and expense
An indemnity costs battle with a £20m gap could reopen an important question: what weight should an approved budget carry?
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