History Main / ComputerizedJudicialSystem

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* The ''Mechanismo'' arc in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' features robotic versions of the Megacity One Judges, empowered exactly as the Judges were under the Judicial Code, to be JudgeJuryAndExecutioner. Inevitably, they malfunction and massacre innocent civilians.

* One early ''ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown'' story had the Challengers and a villainous time-traveler subjected to one when they traveled into the far future. In a subversion of how this plot usually plays out, the A.I. ''exonerates'' all of them for being obviously too primitive to comply with society's more complicated laws; before the villain can celebrate, though, the court's human enforcers promptly confiscate all the tech he's stolen, turn him over to the Challengers, send them all back to their own time, and blow up the time machine for good measure.

* Several of Frank Herbert's ''Literature/ConSentiency'' stories (including ''Whipping Star'' and "The Tactful Saboteur") mention a "robo legum" court which is apparently run by a computer.
* Alan E. Nourse's "The Bladerunner". When Billy Gimp is arrested for blade running (handling black market medical supplies), he's tried and sentenced by a computer court system.
* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/CrystalSinger'' novel ''Killashandra''. Near the end of the book Killashandra's boyfriend Lars Dahl is given a computer-controlled trial for kidnapping her as well as other charges. She has forgiven him and wants him to be acquitted, but the Judicial Monitor computer's equipment reads her heightened vital signs, misinterprets them as her being afraid of him, and finds him guilty of one of the charges. Eventually he's cleared of the charge and he and Killashandra get back together.
* In "Little Brother", a short story and an episode of the miniseries ''Masters of Science Fiction'' (aka ''Creator/StephenHawking's Sci Fi Masters'') a machine called "Court" or "judge" is made up of about a thousand [[BrainInAJar brains in jars]]; curiously enough there is only a judge and a defender, not a prosecuting AI.

* In ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' by Creator/HarryHarrison, the titular character is arrested on the charges of dereliction of duty, as well as losing his map of the Imperial {{Planetville}} (a capital offense, mind you). He is brought before a court where jury members are robots pre-programmed to always find the defendant guilty. To everyone's shock, the robots acquit him... but only because they have just received orders to sent Bill to a hellhole planet.

* ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a CrapsackWorld, featured computerized trials... [[TechnologyMarchesOn on floppy disk]]!
** There are also Video Courts such as "You The Jury" that keeps the human element but turns the whole trial into a GameShow.
* The TV Movies that began the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' series showed that KangarooCourt computerized trials where the judge, prosecution, and defense were all played by standardized holographic bureaucrats were a regular part of life under the Divine Order of the League of 20,000 Planets, or at least life on the Cluster, the League's capitol.
* During Travis' military tribunal on ''Series/BlakesSeven'', the roles of prosecution and defense are filled by human beings, but the "Judgement Program" or something similar processes the disposition of the accused. The Terran Federation was, of course, consistently depicted as totalitarian.

* In a rare subversion, in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E20CourtMartial Court Martial]]", the ''USS Enterprise'' computer is used to prove Kirk's innocence (trials in the Federation typically being conducted by sentient organic beings, not computers). A digital witness, perhaps?
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E3TheStonesOfBlood The Stones of Blood]]" features the Megara, Justice Machines who take the place of judge, jury and executioner and can MindProbe witnesses to be certain of the truth. They frequently converse with each other during the trial in machine code and regard the involvement of actual organics in the judicial process as a tedious necessity.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]" featured a robotic Space Corps Enforcement Orb who had been tracking the crew and ''Starbug'' for some time on charges of looting and illegal salvage. Due to the distance from formal legal proceedings Enforcement Orbs are empowered to pass judgment and mete sentence (death in this case) on the spot.
** "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice Justice]]" featured a space station that was a prison. The station was administered by The Justice Computer, who {{mind probe}}d everyone entering to determine if they were hiding a criminal act and immediately rendered judgement on them.
* Narrowly averted in ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'', where, when a criminal is confronted, the computer compiles all the relevant information and sends it to a judge (as revealed in the ''10 Years After'' movie, the galactic court is located on a planet where time passes at an INFINITELY slower rate, and thus what to the Dekarangers is just a few seconds, over there is the time where the actual judgement takes place), who then hands down a verdict. Its American counterpart ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' plays it straight by having the Rangers' equipment determine the guilt or innocence of the accused itself, but at least they only issue arrest warrants and don't hand out death sentences like ''Dekaranger'' does.
* One of [[Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob Tim and Eric's]] many [[ParodyCommercial mock products]] from [[MegaCorp Cinco]] is "e-Trial", a software application that enables users to give themselves a trial from their home computer. Defendants click icons to select relevant pieces of evidence and portraits of virtual jurors, submit a plea, then receive a legally-binding verdict straight from the computer screen.
* In the episode "Little Brother" of the short-lived ''Series/MastersOfScienceFiction'', computer personalities oversee trials, and the [[BrainUploading uploaded minds]] of deceased people act as jurors. However, this turns out to work poorly.
* ''Series/ClassOf09'': By 2034, juries have recommended verdicts from the AI system, and it's strongly implied very few go against them. Judges also rarely deny its requests for warrants.

* ''TabletopGame/StarFrontiers'' module [=SF1=] ''Volturnus, Planet of Mystery''. All of the laws of the Eorna civilization were entered into special computers. The computers control the robot police and act as judges in all civil and criminal cases.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}''. To the extent that any Alpha Complex citizen receives due process at all, the Computer usually presides over any formal trials that occur. This often occurs during post-mission debriefings when Troubleshooters accuse each other of treason.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork6CybeastGregarAndCybeastFalzar'', there is a computerized judge. Which promptly gets hacked and starts accusing and convicting people of trumped up charges.
* Halfway through the second ''VideoGame/ExitPath'' game, [[MegaCorp Central]] captures you, and runs you through an automated jury system, which instantly deems you guilty. The whole process has shades of KangarooCourt as well.

* ''VideoGame/VoidBastards'' has every aspect of the judical system overseen by an AI installed into a clunky CRT monitor.

* An episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/COPS1988 C.O.P.S.]]'' called "The Case of the Bogus Justice Machines" has a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket, the machines would not arrest any of his crooks no matter what they did.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': When Homer's car is abandoned in New York City he calls in to challenge the tickets.
-->'''Pleasant female voice''': [[ForInconveniencePressOne To plead 'not guilty', press 'one' now]]. ''[Homer dials one]'' Thank you. Your plea has been...\\
'''Male rough voice''': Rejected.\\
'''Pleasant female voice''': You will be assessed the full fine plus a small...\\
'''Male rough voice''': Large lateness fee.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' episode "Millionaire Astro", the Jetsons are involved in a custody battle with Astro's original owners. In court, the "jury" was a computer called the Jury-vac; it had 12 volume unit meters.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" the judge in the trial is an old Apple Macintosh, possibly as a reference to ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' above.

* "VideoGame/VoidBastards" has every aspect of the judical system overseen by an AI installed into a clunky CRT monitor.

* The process of issuing citations for motorists caught by automatic speed traps is almost entirely automated, with OCR software comparing the license plate to the local ownership database and then sending a summons to the relevant address. On at least one occasion this has resulted in a sumons being sent to the owner of a car that was being towed by a recovery vehicle at the time, leading to much negative press as well as a sharp rebuke from the judge, so most police forces require a clerk to review all auto-generated summons before dispatch.

* There has been some serious talk about utilizing AIs in the future to prelitigate cases to see if they can be thrown out or if they can proceed to court, as the speed and knowledge of an actual [=AI=] could make this determination in a very short period of time. In the U.S., where the deliberation and actual court case take considerable time, some courts are backlogged by ''years''.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' had omnipresent computerized speech monitors that fined citizens for uttering profanity.

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/COPSAnimatedSeries'' called "The Case Of The Bogus Justice Machines" had a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket, the machines would not arrest any of his crooks no matter what they did.

* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" the judge in the trial is an old Apple Macintosh, possibly as a reference to ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' above.

[[folder:RealLife]]

* In the episode "Little Brother" of the short-lived ''Masters Of Science Fiction'', computer personalities oversee trials, and the [[BrainUploading uploaded minds]] of deceased people act as jurors. However, this turns out to work poorly.

Societies in the future, particularly in older media or modern works with elements of {{Retraux}}, are sometimes depicted as having a computerized justice system. Part of the use of this trope is for shock value (to modern audiences accustomed to more humanistic values underlying their familiar legal systems); the other part of it is to reinforce that the setting is either TheFuture, TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, another planet, an AlternateUniverse, or some other futuristic or otherworldly setting. Occasionally, a variant will even show up in the PresentDay. Sometimes, but not always, a symptom of a futuristic KangarooCourt, as computers can be programmed by human beings to distort the truth or cover up.

* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', Togusa gets put on trial for using his weapon while off-duty. During his trial, the judge is aided with an odd number of computer AIs to help her make decisions and move the trial along.

* The ''Mechanismo'' arc in ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' features robotic versions of the Megacity One Judges, empowered exactly as the Judges were under the Judicial Code, to be [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong judge, jury and executioner.]] Inevitably, they malfunction and massacre innocent civilians.
* Themis, in ''S.O.S Bonheur''. The staff surrounding it praise it for being absolutely blind and free of stupid human mistakes... Just before it sentences a man to death for a minor offence. [[spoiler: It is the result of deliberate sabotage rather than Themis' AI being a crapshoot.]]

* ''Little Brother'': a short story and an episode of the miniseries Masters of Science Fiction (aka Stephen Hawking's Sci Fi Masters) a machine called "Court" or "judge" is made up of about a thousand [[BrainInAJar brains in jars]]; curiously enough there is only a judge and a defender, not a prosecuting AI.
* A short story, ''Computers Don't Argue'', by Creator/GordonRDickson: someone eventually got executed because the computerized justice system (actually the joke was that the entire society was computerized) thought he had "Kidnapped" someone named "Creator/RobertLouisStevenson", when all he did was get the wrong book from a publishing company, and it kept trying to charge him, and things just went OffTheRails from there.
* In ''Literature/TheDemolishedMan'', it is revealed in the end that their system of justice involves [[spoiler:a computer which reviews the case and decides in minutes if the person is guilty or not]]. Note that it is not a KangarooCourt, as [[spoiler:the computer is very tough to convince. You need real evidence someone is guilty]], indeed the need to find the evidence drives Powell's actions (and the plot).
* In ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' by Creator/HarryHarrison, the titular character is arrested on the charges of dereliction of duty, as well as losing his map of the Imperial PlanetVille (a capital offense, mind you). He is brought before a court where jury members are robots pre-programmed to always find the defendant guilty. To everyone's shock, the robots acquit him... but only because they have just received orders to sent Bill to a hellhole planet.

* ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a CrapsackWorld, featured computerized trials [[TechnologyMarchesOn on floppy disk!]]

* The TV Movies that began the ''{{Series/Lexx}}'' series showed that KangarooCourt computerized trials where the judge, prosecution, and defense were all played by standardized holographic bureaucrats were a regular part of life under the Divine Order of the League of 20,000 Planets, or at least life on the Cluster, the League's capitol.

* In a rare subversion, in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[{{Recap/StarTrekS1E20CourtMartial}} Court Martial]]", the ''USS Enterprise'' computer is used to prove Kirk's innocence (trials in the Federation typically being conducted by sentient organic beings, not computers).
** Digital Witness?
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[DoctorWhoS16E3TheStonesOfBlood The Stones of Blood]]" features the Megara, Justice Machines who take the place of judge, jury and executioner and can MindProbe witnesses to be certain of the truth. They frequently converse with each other during the trial in machine code and regard the involvement of actual organics in the judicial process as a tedious necessity.

* The ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]" featured a robotic Space Corps Enforcement Orb who had been tracking the crew and ''Starbug'' for some time on charges of looting and illegal salvage. Due to the distance from formal legal proceedings Enforcement Orbs are empowered to pass judgment and mete sentence (death in this case) on the spot.
** "[[RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice Justice]]" featured a space station that was a prison. The station was administered by The Justice Computer, who {{mind probe}}d everyone entering to determine if they were hiding a criminal act and immediately rendered judgement on them.

* In the episode "Little Brother" of the short-lived ''Masters Of Science Fiction'', computer personalities oversee trials, and the uploaded minds of deceased people act as jurors. However, this turns out to work poorly.

* ''TabletopGame/FengShui'' presents this as yet another feature of the {{Dystopia}}n world of 2056.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/COPSAnimatedSeries'' called "The Case Of The Bogus Justice Machines" had a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket the machines would not arrest any of his Crooks no matter what they did.

-->Pleasant female voice: [[ForInconveniencePressOne To plead 'not guilty,' press `one' now.]] ''Homer dials one'' Thank you. Your plea has been...
-->Male rough voice: Rejected.
-->Pleasant female voice: You will be assessed the full fine plus a small...
-->Male rough voice: Large lateness fee.

* The ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" the judge in the trial is an old Apple Macintosh.
** Possibly a reference to ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', see above.

* There are computer systems in place in at least one state that can make automatic accusations against welfare recipients for suspected abuses of the welfare system. The algorithm it uses in lieu of common sense is very far from perfect; these automatic accusations are [[RealityEnsues wrong in 84% of cases]]. Politicians agree: it takes common sense to judge these kinds of things.

* An episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/COPSAnimatedSeries C.O.P.S.]]'' called "The Case Of The Bogus Justice Machines" had a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket the machines would not arrest any of his Crooks no matter what they did.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{COPS}}'' called "The Case Of The Bogus Justice Machines" had a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket the machines would not arrest any of his Crooks no matter what they did.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/COPS'' called "The Case Of The Bogus Justice Machines" had a crooked city councilman try to replace the C.O.P.S. with "Instant Justice Machines". The machines acted as police, judge and warden and had a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. And of course, because the councilman was in Big Boss's pocket the machines would not arrest any of his Crooks no matter what they did.

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder: {{Film}}]]

[[folder:{{Literature}}]]

[[folder:LiveActionTelevision]]

[[folder:TabletopRPG]]

[[folder:VideoGames]]
* In the sixth ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' game, there is a computerized judge. Which promptly gets hacked and starts accusing and convicting people of trumped up charges.

[[folder: WesternAnimation]]

[[folder: RealLife]]