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Abstract

The prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary society is well established. AI is increasingly utilized in criminal justice system processes and tools across the law enforcement, courts, and corrections components of the system. The use of AI in the criminal justice system raises myriad practical, ethical, legal, and privacy problems. The way AI-related criminal justice issues are covered in the media has implications for how the public understands these issues; such portrayals are critically important, given the expected growth of AI use in all aspects of U.S. society. Despite the need for such research, there is a scarcity of studies on the media's portrayal of AI involvement in the work of criminal justice practitioners. The present study employs a mixed-methods content analysis to examine how the media portrays the criminal justice use of AI. Regression models were used to determine factors predictive of (a) media portraying AI use in criminal justice as negative and (b) the use of AI in criminal justice as biased, discriminatory, or inaccurate. Several independent variables were identified as predictive of the dependent variable. Policy implications are discussed as they pertain to future risks and the involvement of AI tools in criminal justice system tools and processes.

Keywords

artificial intelligence criminal justice technology criminal justice policy criminal justice ethics actuarial justice

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Media Portrayals of AI Use in the Criminal Justice System: A Mixed-Methods Study

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