Mapping the Use of New and Emerging Technologies in Probation in Europe

• In Event: Technology and surveillance in community sanctions and measures

Abstract

There is lively interest in the emergence of AI and machine learning technologies in the criminal justice system. In the main, this research and public interest is focused on the use of a wide range of such technologies in policing and their potential for improved crime prevention, detection, and public safety; as well as the risks of further embedding existing discrimination and oppressive policing, miscarriages of justice driven by black box systems, etc. (Babuta and Oswald, 2019). Research in the use of AI and other emerging technologies in probation is less pronounced which is surprising given the long standing practices of undertaken risk assessments with some degree of automation, using electronic monitoring systems with varying degrees of sophistication, and alcohol/sobriety tags and other technological means of surveillance and monitoring. Research on the growing reliance on technology in community sanctions and probation focused on the impact of technology on people on probation and on probation practice (Nellis 2023; Phillips 2017). In this paper, I will map out what we know about the adoption of emerging technologies in probation across Europe.

Author

• Martina Feilzer, Bangor University, Wales, UK