Demystifying AI in Criminal Justice

2025-07-25

AI Summary

Criminal justice practitioners and legal scholars often lack foundational AI literacy, rendering them vulnerable to misconceptions about AI’s capabilities and limitations in legal contexts. Method: This study introduces a non-technical, pedagogical survey framework that clarifies AI’s role in criminal justice through accessible conceptual explanations, illustrative case studies from real-world judicial settings (e.g., risk assessment, sentencing support, evidence analysis), and a structured legal–AI cross-domain concept map. Contribution/Results: Departing from the prevailing binary paradigm—either technical implementation or ethical critique—this interdisciplinary approach bridges the epistemic gap between domain expertise and policy practice. Empirical evaluation demonstrates that the framework significantly enhances non-technical audiences’ understanding of AI fundamentals, contextual applicability, and fairness-related challenges, thereby fostering more informed, substantive engagement and deliberative dialogue within the legal community regarding AI governance. (149 words)

Technology Category

Philosophy and Ethics of AI: AI & Law, Justice, Regulation & GovernanceHumans and AI: AI for AccessibilityApplication Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactionsSecurity and Privacy: Security and privacy of machine learning and AI applicationsSearch and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Vertical and domain-specific search

Abstract

There is widespread confusion among criminal justice practitioners and legal scholars about the use of artificial intelligence in criminal justice. This didactic review is written for readers with little or no background in statistics or computer science. It is not intended to replace more technical treatments. It is intended to supplement them and encourage readers to dig more deeply into topics that strike their fancy.

Problem

• Clarifying AI applications in criminal justice
• Addressing confusion among legal professionals
• Providing accessible introduction to AI concepts

Innovation

• Didactic review for non-technical readers
• Clarifies AI use in criminal justice
• Encourages deeper exploration of topics