AI and the Criminal Legal System

The Wilson Center is critically interested in advancing protections around due process and procedural justice during the growth of AI. As AI expands in use across aspects of society, it can benefit more people but also it raises serious concerns about procedural justice and due process. Currently, most AI systems are designed as a “black boxes” that cannot be explained. As a result, if people are harmed, they have no fair notice, no ability to respond, and no way to correct mistakes. For this reason, the Center has conducted leading research and policy work aiming to prevent the spread of black box AI. Professor Brandon L. Garrett, faculty director of the Wilson Center, and Professor Cynthia Rudin, a pioneering computer scientist at Duke, have led efforts to evaluate fully interpretable, “glass box” AI. Together, they have written influential work describing the need for interpretable AI in the criminal system and its many advantages, as well as its fairness and ability to safeguard constitutional rights. As experts in the field, Garrett and Rudin have provided policy guidance and consulting around interpretable AI.