Report on Artificial Intelligence and the Administration of Justice in the United Kingdom: Predictive Justice

This report considers predictive justice in England and Wales, with a focus on predictive risk algorithms used in sentencing. The main incentives for using predictive risk algorithms and AI-based systems in the criminal justice system are cost and efficiency. This is especially the case due to significant time and economic pressures on the criminal justice system which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.2 More justice-focused incentives include reducing bias and arbitrariness in judicial decision-making and increasing consistency and transparency.3 The use of algorithms in sentencing are thought to increase consistency by standardising the measurement of risk,4 and reduce costs and increase efficiency by improving the targeting of resources, matching offenders with suitable interventions.