Latest news with #NathanHecht
Time Magazine
31-07-2025
- Time Magazine
Police and Courts Are Turning to AI. Is the System Ready for It?
Can AI be used to make the criminal justice system more fair and efficient, or will it only reinforce harmful biases? Experts say that it has so far been deployed in worrying ways—but that there is potential for positive impact. Today, AI tech has reached nearly every aspect of the criminal justice system. It is being used in facial recognition systems to identify suspects; in 'predictive policing' strategies to formulate patrol routes; in courtrooms to assist with case management; and by public defenders to cull through evidence. But while advocates point to an increase in efficiency and fairness, critics raise serious questions around privacy and accountability. Last month, the Council on Criminal Justice launched a nonpartisan task force on AI, to study how AI could be used in the criminal justice system safely and ethically. The group's work will be supported by researchers at RAND, and they will eventually take their findings and make recommendations to policymakers and law enforcement. 'There's no question that AI can yield unjust results,' says Nathan Hecht, the task force's chair and a former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice. 'This task force wants to bring together tech people, criminal justice people, community people, experts in various different areas, and really sit down to see how we can use it to make the system better and not cause the harm that it's capable of.' Risks of AI in law enforcement Many courts and police departments are already using AI, Hecht says. 'It's very piecemeal: Curious people going, 'Oh, wow, there's this AI out here, we could use it over in the criminal court.' But because there are few standards for how to deploy AI, civil rights watchdogs have grown concerned that law enforcement agencies are using it in dangerous ways. Thousands of agencies have come to rely upon facial recognition technology sold by companies like Clearview, which hosts a database of billions of images scraped off the internet. In many databases, Black people are overrepresented, in part because they live in communities that are overpoliced. AI technology is also worse at discerning differences in Black people's faces, which can lead to higher misidentification rates. Last year, the Innocence Project, a legal nonprofit, found that there have been at least seven wrongful arrests from facial recognition technology, six of which involved wrongfully accused Black people. Walter Katz, the organization's director of policy, says that police sometimes make arrests solely based on AI's facial recognition findings as opposed to having the AI serve as a starting point for a larger investigation. 'There's an over-reliance on AI outputs,' he says. Katz says that when he went to a policing conference last fall, 'it was AI everywhere.' Vendors were aggressively hawking technology tools that claimed to solve real problems in police departments. 'But in making that pitch, there was little attention to any tradeoffs or risks,' he says. For instance, critics worry that many of these AI tools will increase surveillance of public spaces, including the monitoring of peaceful protesters—or that so-called 'predictive policing' will intensify law enforcement's crackdowns on over-policed areas. Where AI could help However, Katz concedes that AI does have a place in the criminal justice system. 'It'll be very hard to wish AI away—and there are places where AI can be helpful,' he says. For that reason, he joined the Council on Criminal Justice's AI task force. 'First and foremost is getting our arms wrapped around how fast the adoption is. And if everyone comes from the understanding that having no policy whatsoever is probably the wrong place to be, then we build from there.' Hecht, the task force's chair, sees several areas where AI could be helpful in the courtroom, for example, including improving the intake process for arrested people, or helping identify who qualifies for diversion programs, which allow offenders to avoid convictions. He also hopes the task force will provide recommendations on what types of AI usage explicitly should not be approved in criminal justice, and steps to preserve the public's privacy. 'We want to try to gather the expertise necessary to reassure the users of the product and the public that this is going to make your experience with the criminal justice system better—and after that, it's going to leave you alone,' he says. Meanwhile, plenty of other independent efforts are trying to use AI to improve the justice processes. One startup, JusticeText, hopes to use AI to narrow the gap between resources of prosecutors and public defenders, the latter of whom are typically severely understaffed and underresourced. JusticeText built a tool for public defenders that sorts through hours of 911 calls, police body camera footage, and recorded interrogations, in order to analyze it and determine if, for example, police have made inconsistent statements or asked leading questions. 'We really wanted to see what it looks like to be a public defender-first, and try to level that playing field that technology has in many ways exacerbated in past years,' says founder and CEO Devshi Mehrotra. JusticeText is working with around 75 public defender agencies around the country. Recidiviz, a criminal justice reform nonprofit, has also been testing several ways of integrating AI into their workflows, including giving parole officers AI-generated summaries of clients. 'You might have 80 pages of case notes going back seven years on this person that you're not going to read if you have a caseload of 150 people, and you have to see each one of them every month,' says Andrew Warren, Recidiviz's co-founder. 'AI could give very succinct highlights of what this person has already achieved and what they could use support on.' The challenge for policymakers and the Council on Criminal Justice's task force, then, is to determine how to develop standards and oversight mechanisms so that the good from AI's efficiency gains outweigh its ability to amplify existing biases. Hecht, at the task force, also hopes to protect from a future in which a black box AI makes life-changing decisions on its own. 'Should we ensure our traditional ideas of human justice are protected? Of course. Should we make sure that able judges and handlers of the criminal justice system are totally in control? Of course,' he says. 'But saying we're going to keep AI out of the justice system is hopeless. Law firms are using it. The civil justice system is using it. It's here to stay.'
Time Magazine
30-07-2025
- Time Magazine
Police and Courts Are Turning to AI. Is the System Ready?
Can AI be used to make the criminal justice system more fair and efficient, or will it only reinforce harmful biases? Experts say that it has so far been deployed in worrying ways—but that there is potential for positive impact. Today, AI tech has reached nearly every aspect of the criminal justice system. It is being used in facial recognition systems to identify suspects; in 'predictive policing' strategies to formulate patrol routes; in courtrooms to assist with case management; and by public defenders to cull through evidence. But while advocates point to an increase in efficiency and fairness, critics raise serious questions around privacy and accountability. Last month, the Council on Criminal Justice launched a nonpartisan task force on AI, to study how AI could be used in the criminal justice system safely and ethically. The group's work will be supported by researchers at RAND, and they will eventually take their findings and make recommendations to policymakers and law enforcement. 'There's no question that AI can yield unjust results,' says Nathan Hecht, the task force's chair and a former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice. 'This task force wants to bring together tech people, criminal justice people, community people, experts in various different areas, and really sit down to see how we can use it to make the system better and not cause the harm that it's capable of.' Risks of AI in law enforcement Many courts and police departments are already using AI, Hecht says. 'It's very piecemeal: Curious people going, 'Oh, wow, there's this AI out here, we could use it over in the criminal court.' But because there are few standards for how to deploy AI, civil rights watchdogs have grown concerned that law enforcement agencies are using it in dangerous ways. Thousands of agencies have come to rely upon facial recognition technology sold by companies like Clearview, which hosts a database of billions of images scraped off the internet. In many databases, Black people are overrepresented, in part because they live in communities that are overpoliced. AI technology is also worse at discerning differences in Black people's faces, which can lead to higher misidentification rates. Last year, the Innocence Project, a legal nonprofit, found that there have been at least seven wrongful arrests from facial recognition technology, six of which involved wrongfully accused Black people. Walter Katz, the organization's director of policy, says that police sometimes make arrests solely based on AI's facial recognition findings as opposed to having the AI serve as a starting point for a larger investigation. 'There's an over-reliance on AI outputs,' he says. Katz says that when he went to a policing conference last fall, 'it was AI everywhere.' Vendors were aggressively hawking technology tools that claimed to solve real problems in police departments. 'But in making that pitch, there was little attention to any tradeoffs or risks,' he says. For instance, critics worry that many of these AI tools will increase surveillance of public spaces, including the monitoring of peaceful protesters—or that so-called 'predictive policing' will intensify law enforcement's crackdowns on over-policed areas. Where AI could help However, Katz concedes that AI does have a place in the criminal justice system. 'It'll be very hard to wish AI away—and there are places where AI can be helpful,' he says. For that reason, he joined the Council on Criminal Justice's AI task force. 'First and foremost is getting our arms wrapped around how fast the adoption is. And if everyone comes from the understanding that having no policy whatsoever is probably the wrong place to be, then we build from there.' Hecht, the task force's chair, sees several areas where AI could be helpful in the courtroom, for example, including improving the intake process for arrested people, or helping identify who qualifies for diversion programs, which allow offenders to avoid convictions. He also hopes the task force will provide recommendations on what types of AI usage explicitly should not be approved in criminal justice, and steps to preserve the public's privacy. 'We want to try to gather the expertise necessary to reassure the users of the product and the public that this is going to make your experience with the criminal justice system better—and after that, it's going to leave you alone,' he says. Meanwhile, plenty of other independent efforts are trying to use AI to improve the justice processes. One startup, JusticeText, hopes to use AI to narrow the gap between resources of prosecutors and public defenders, the latter of whom are typically severely understaffed and underresourced. JusticeText built a tool for public defenders that sorts through hours of 911 calls, police body camera footage, and recorded interrogations, in order to analyze it and determine if, for example, police have made inconsistent statements or asked leading questions. 'We really wanted to see what it looks like to be a public defender-first, and try to level that playing field that technology has in many ways exacerbated in past years,' says founder and CEO Devshi Mehrotra. JusticeText is working with around 75 public defender agencies around the country. Recidiviz, a criminal justice reform nonprofit, has also been testing several ways of integrating AI into their workflows, including giving parole officers AI-generated summaries of clients. 'You might have 80 pages of case notes going back seven years on this person that you're not going to read if you have a caseload of 150 people, and you have to see each one of them every month,' says Andrew Warren, Recidiviz's co-founder. 'AI could give very succinct highlights of what this person has already achieved and what they could use support on.' The challenge for policymakers and the Council on Criminal Justice's task force, then, is to determine how to develop standards and oversight mechanisms so that the good from AI's efficiency gains outweigh its ability to amplify existing biases. Hecht, at the task force, also hopes to protect from a future in which a black box AI makes life-changing decisions on its own. 'Should we ensure our traditional ideas of human justice are protected? Of course. Should we make sure that able judges and handlers of the criminal justice system are totally in control? Of course,' he says. 'But saying we're going to keep AI out of the justice system is hopeless. Law firms are using it. The civil justice system is using it. It's here to stay.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Texas Supreme Court chief justice calls for judicial raises, changes to bail laws
In his first address to the Texas Legislature, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock struck a more ideological tone than his predecessor, proudly embracing constitutional originalism, a judicial philosophy often associated with conservatives. 'Our Constitution means the same thing yesterday, today and tomorrow, until the people of Texas decide to change it,' he said. 'This is called constitutional originalism, and under this Supreme Court, it is the law in Texas.' He contrasted this with the idea, more typically associated with the left, that the Constitution is a living document that should evolve with changing times. 'In Texas, under this Supreme Court, the living Constitution is dead,' Blacklock said, to cheers and applause from the joint session of state representatives and senators who gathered for the biannual State of the Judiciary speech. Before he was appointed to the bench in 2017, Blacklock worked under Gov. Greg Abbott, first at the attorney general's office and then as his general counsel, helping lead some of Texas' biggest legal fights on abortion, voting access, gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act. Abbott appointed him chief justice in January to replace Nathan Hecht, who stepped down due to the mandatory judicial retirement age. Hecht was the longest serving Supreme Court justice in Texas history, spending 36 years on the high court, 10 of them as chief justice, and 43 years as a judge. 'He first became a judge just a few days after my first birthday in 1981,' Blacklock noted in his speech. 'All of his fellow Texans, young and old, rich and poor, Republican and Democrat, owe Nathan Hecht a great debt of gratitude for his tireless and principled work to promote the rule of law and to make justice a greater reality for every Texan.' The chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court addresses the Legislature biannually on behalf of the judicial branch. Blacklock reported that Texas' judiciary was in good shape, but he nonetheless was 'going to make a few suggestions, perhaps a few complaints' to legislators about how things could be improved. He echoed years of calls, from Hecht and others, to increase judicial salaries, saying the base pay for district judges had not been raised since 2013, putting Texas 48th out of 50 states for judicial salaries. The Judicial Compensation Commission has recommended a 30% pay increase across the board for judges, which Blacklock said was necessary to attract and retain talented lawyers to the profession. 'If these were just any government employees, those of you who know me know that I would be more likely to recommend a Department of Government Efficiency than a pay raise,' he said, referring to the controversial federal cost-cutting effort run by tech billionaire Elon Musk. 'But we're not talking about any bureaucrats. We're talking about the constitutional officers of a co-equal branch of government.' Blacklock said these raises were necessary while also calling out a 'few judges who may not be working as hard as the job demands.' He said he had 'no patience' for these alleged slackers, and would use his authority as chief justice to identify 'problem judges,' using clearance rates and other metrics to figure out where there were weak spots and pushing to have those judges removed from the bench if necessary. The framers of the Constitution, he said, 'gave us tools to fix these problems in the very rare cases where they arise, and if we forget about these tools, or we don't use them because we think it would be too difficult, or it might make us look bad, then we're not allowing our Constitution to operate the way it was designed.' Blacklock threw his support behind the legislative effort to tighten restrictions on when a defendant can be let out on bail, which Abbott has designated an emergency item. He said this was necessary to support law enforcement, as there were people out there who would find ways to do evil, no matter how many laws the Legislature passed to stop them. 'They aren't stopped by laws written on paper or by judges and voters,' he said. 'The only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun who means to do evil is a good man with a gun who means to do justice.' For many years, Hecht used this speech to call on more funding for legal aid programs that helped low-income Texans access the civil legal system. Blacklock said that remained a focus for the 'court as a whole', but his energy would go toward systemic reforms that make legal services more affordable for everyone. He said he would be open to proposals, which Hecht and others have backed, to allow non-lawyers to provide some basic legal services. Blacklock concluded his speech by calling for changes to the child welfare system to allow families to stay together more easily, saying using the 'coercive power of the state … to destroy a family should never be our first instinct.' 'It's tempting when we see these children in these desperate circumstances to want them removed quickly from their failed parents for their protection,' he said. 'But we have to remember this, just as surely as God made those precious children, God made that family.' We can't wait to welcome you to the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Step inside the conversations shaping the future of education, the economy, health care, energy, technology, public safety, culture, the arts and so much more. Hear from our CEO, Sonal Shah, on TribFest 2025. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
