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AI legal assistants to be developed and tested to speed up
justice and cut delays
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New AI tool to assist judges in listing trials and get
cases heard sooner for victims
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Technology to free thousands of staff from admin grind to
protect the public
Thousands of victims could see justice delivered more quickly as
the Government pilots the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in
the Crown Court.
A raft of new technology projects is being developed which will
aim to deliver improvements across the justice system and tackle
the court backlog - including AI legal assistants to support
legal professionals and staff, and streamlined case management
processes to get cases moving faster.
The new AI legal assistants will be developed in partnership with
the UK's top legal experts and leading AI developers to support
legal professionals with routine casework, including research and
case analysis. the purpose of the technology will be to drive
productivity, boost efficiency in the Crown Court, and cut the
time victims have to wait for their day in court.
Before being used in the Crown Court, the new technology will
first be trialled in highly controlled environments that set
clear standards for safe and ethical use. This will ensure any
new software meets the high bar required by judges and lawyers
before being considered for rollout in the courts system.
Judges are already planning to use a new AI tool to help identify
trial-ready cases and group similar hearings together – helping
maximise judicial, prosecutorial and court resources to resolve
cases sooner and deliver swifter justice for victims.
The announcement will be made by the Deputy Prime Minister at
London Tech Week (Tuesday 09 June), where he will outline how AI
can drive criminal justice system modernisation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor said:
“Artificial intelligence has the power to transform how we live,
work, and govern for the better.
“This impact for good can be seen in our justice system – with
thousands of days of admin work saved for our probation staff,
and the advent of new tools which aim to cut court backlogs and
deliver swifter justice for victims.”
The Deputy Prime Minister will also announce that every probation
officer in England and Wales has been equipped with Justice
Transcribe – a cutting-edge AI tool that automatically records
and transcribes conversations with offenders.
This will cut the hours which probation officers spend between
these meetings manually transferring handwritten notes into
digital systems, so they can focus on the vital work of stopping
offenders from reoffending.
By automating time-consuming tasks such as this, AI technology
across the Probation Service is expected to save significant
amounts of probation officers' time. Justice Transcribe alone
could free up the equivalent of 18,750 calendar days of valuable
time every year allowing frontline staff to spend more time
monitoring offenders and keeping our streets safe.
And following the success of Justice Transcribe, a similar tool
is being trialled in the Immigration and Asylum Tribunals that
will allow judges to transcribe case notes and alleviate admin
pressures, before being considered for wider rollout across the
court and tribunal system.
The tool is one of the projects forming part of the Prime
Minister's AI Exemplars programme which are prime examples of how
the government wants to use AI across the public sector to make
people's lives easier and protect the public.
Earlier this week, the Government unveiled state-of-the-art
testing environments – dubbed AI Growth Labs. The initiative will
enable the UK's growing lawtech sector to develop and refine
cutting-edge AI products in a secure, controlled setting, before
bringing them to market at pace – delivering a major boost to
innovation and economic growth.
ENDS.
SUPPORTIVE QUOTE — Martin , His Majesty's Chief Inspector of
Probation, said:
"Justice Transcribe is an extraordinary success story, which is
transforming the way probation staff work. Our hard-pressed,
frontline probation staff have previously been mired in
bureaucracy. This intelligent tool is now saving thousands of
hours of staff time and enabling them to spend that time better
managing cases and helping turn offenders' lives around."
