AI systems are being used throughout the criminal justice system — and the stakes could not be higher.

Current AI Uses in Criminal Justice

• Recidivism prediction (parole, bail, sentencing recommendations)
• Predictive policing (patrol allocation, crime forecasting)
• Facial recognition (identifying suspects)

Documented Problems

• COMPAS recidivism tool: equally accurate for Black and white defendants overall, but with very different error types — higher false positive rate for Black defendants
• Facial recognition: significantly higher error rates for darker-skinned women in early studies

Core Issue

Using opaque algorithms to make or influence decisions about human freedom raises fundamental due process concerns.

Reference:

ProPublica Machine Bias investigation

https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing