Challenges for Common Criminal Procedure Principles
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a technology intended to enhance human capabilities. A combination of hardware, software, and carefully constructed algorithms, AI contributes to tasks that challenge human intelligence, including tasks that are time-consuming and very complex.
AI’s use in the legal domain continues to gain momentum. Due to a number of factors (e.g., population growth, greater regulation, better law enforcement, and a more litigious society), justice systems are under growing pressure in both civil and criminal matters. By arguing that certain civil disputes and certain criminal cases are often ‘routine’, with allegedly highly predictable outcomes, AI developers have turned their attention to the justice area. Using proprietary algorithms, AI Developers claim to offer relief to overburdened courts and prosecutors as well as to other participants in the judicial process.
COMPREHENSIVENESS
A comprehensive study on the impact of using AI in criminal proceedings, analysing and comparing seven countries’ legal systems, as well those of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
An interdisciplinary team: Ethicists, cyberneticists, computer scientists, and ICT specialists working side-by-side with legal experts from different legal domains and traditions in the realm of criminal procedure; in addition to doctrinal legal research, the project will build on empirical research, which includes face-to-face interviews with practitioners, AI developers, and stakeholders in all six countries.
CONCRETENESS
The project will result in concrete norm proposals for modifying the existing rules and/or introducing new specific criminal procedure rules, based on detailed legal arguments. This way, relevant stakeholders will be able to ensure that the use of AI in criminal proceedings does not infringe on common criminal procedure principles or rule of law principles.