Cop Out: Automation in the Criminal Legal System illuminates the many ways algorithmic tools automate and influence every stage of policing and punishment in the U.S. Algorithmic technology including predictive policing, facial recognition, and risk assessments tend to reproduce and reinforce existing biases and inequities. Yet even without accountability and oversight for AI tools, the judicial system often cedes decisions to these tools, exacerbating entrenched problems in law enforcement. The project from Georgetown Law Center on Privacy and Technology illustrates interactions like surveillance, bail determinations, sentencing, incarceration, release, and the algorithms that all too often determine the outcomes. A paper that goes with the project offers more detail, stories, and research for scholars and reformers.
