Technology & the criminal justice system

• Unfairness and discrimination can be embedded in justice technology yet there is little means of scrutiny.

Using tech to solve problems without properly scrutinising its efficacy or considering the regulatory framework within which it has to operate can lead to expensive and embarrassing mistakes. The criminal justice system has already faced regulatory action in connection with the Metropolitan Police’s Gangs Matrix. Following concerns the Matrix included people who posed little or no risk, the London Mayor ordered a review which, according to press reports, led to about one thousand young, black men’s names being removed.

A House of Lords report published in March, suggests the criminal justice system could be forced into another humiliating policy retreat (‘Technology rules? The advent of new technologies in the justice system’). The report by the Justice and Home Affairs Committee detailed a range of concerns with the technology itself, transparency about its deployment, and the oversight of its use.