Line #80 Main/ComputerizedJudicialSystem


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12	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_fear_bot.png]]]]
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14	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 AlternateHistory, 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.
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16	Modern consensus is that a truly computerized justice system is unlikely. Judges have to puzzle through difficult legal reasoning that often depends heavily on experience, "common sense", and a sense of justice. While a lot of the rote work of the courts can be automated, you'd be surprised how many issues require human judgment to resolve fairly. Meanwhile, juries also rely heavily on common sense and experience with human beings to figure out if other human beings are trustworthy. A computer that could replicate the kind of human judgment needed to consistently decide cases in a way people would accept would probably be an AI so sophisticated it wouldn't be worth bothering to build it.
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18	What role computers play in the actual trial can vary considerably. Usually the computer is either the Judge, Jury or both. Computerized prosecution is also common, somewhat more so than a computer playing the role of Defense Attorney (though these show up, as well, from time to time).
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21	!!Examples:
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23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
26	* 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 A.I.s to help her make decisions and move the trial along.
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Comic Books]]
30	* One early ''ComicBook/ChallengersOfTheUnknown'' story has the Challengers and a villainous time-traveler subjected to one after travelling 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.
31	* The ''Mechanismo'' arc of ''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.
32	* 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' [[AIIsACrapshoot A.I. being a crapshoot]].]]
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
36	* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' has omnipresent computerized speech monitors that fine citizens for uttering profanity.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Literature]]
40	* In ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'', 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 send Bill to a hellhole planet.
41	* In 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.
42	* In the short story "Computers Don't Argue" by Creator/GordonRDickson, someone eventually gets executed because the computerized justice system (actually the joke is that the entire society is 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.
43	* Several ''Literature/ConSentiency'' stories (including ''Whipping Star'' and "The Tactful Saboteur") mention a "robo legum" court which is apparently run by a computer.
44	* Near the end of the ''Literature/CrystalSinger'' novel ''Killashandra'', 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.
45	* 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]], and indeed the need to find the evidence drives Powell's actions (and the plot).
46	* In "Little Brother", a short story adapted as an episode of the miniseries ''Series/MastersOfScienceFiction'' (see the Live-Action TV folder below), 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.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
50	* ''Series/BlakesSeven'':
51	** During Travis' military tribunal, 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.
52	** A "judgement machine" was also referred to in Blake's civilian trial in the pilot episode, "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E1TheWayBack The Way Back]]". Defense and Prosecutions load {{Data Crystal}}s containing the evidence and their respective legal arguments into the computer, which then makes a decision. The human Arbiters then decide on the sentence. In both cases the computer is presented as being objective, but this doesn't prevent false evidence and judicial influence.
53	* ''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.
54	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
55	** "[[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.
56	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E5TheKeysOfMarinus The Keys of Marinus]]", a First Doctor story, had something similar in the Conscience of Marinus.
57	* The TV movies that began the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' series show that KangarooCourt computerized trials where the judge, prosecution, and defense are all played by standardized holographic bureaucrats are 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.
58	* In the ''Series/MastersOfScienceFiction'' episode "Little Brother", computer personalities oversee trials, and the [[BrainUploading uploaded minds]] of deceased people act as jurors. However, this turns out to work poorly.
59	* ''Series/MaxHeadroom'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in a CrapsackWorld, features computerized trials... [[TechnologyMarchesOn on floppy disk]]! There are also Video Courts such as "You the Jury" that keep the human element but turn the whole trial into a GameShow.
60	* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
61	** "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice Justice]]" features a space station that is a prison. The station is administered by the Justice Computer, who {{mind probe}}s everyone entering to determine if they're hiding a criminal act and immediately renders judgement on them.
62	** "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]" features 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.
63	* 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?
64	* One of ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'''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.
65	* Narrowly averted in ''Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger'' when a criminal is confronted and 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.
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68	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
69	* ''TabletopGame/FengShui'' presents this as yet another feature of the {{dystopia}}n world of 2056.
70	* ''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.
71	* In ''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.
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74	[[folder:Video Games]]
75	* In ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}'', Orendi's discipline hearing in one of her lore challenges was presided by a Magnus named Gendarme. The hearing however ends up as a chaotic mess as Orendi immediately starts attacking everyone and everything upon entering. As Orendi causes more and more damage, the Hon. Gendarme becomes too preoccupied with updating on the fly the growing list of charges against Orendi to do anything else. The recording of this incident then comes to an end with Orendi having destroyed Gendarme's remote access node.
76	* 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.
77	* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has a downplayed example; while Fontaine's trials are largely conducted by human means (or seemingly human in the case of Chief Justice Neuvillette), the actual verdict is delivered by a machine called the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, which takes into account the arguments from both the prosecution and the defense, as well as the Chief Justice's ruling. That being said, the Oratrice's rulings always line up with Neuvillette's, [[spoiler:which is why he is so shocked when the Oratrice contradicts him and finds Childe guilty in the serial disappearances case, despite the actual culprit having just been caught and convicted]]. The machine is also used to convert the people's belief in justice into Indemnitium, a power source which fuels Fontaine's [[AlternateTechline advanced technology]] relative to the rest of Teyvat.
78	* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork6CybeastGregarAndCybeastFalzar'' features a computerized judge which promptly gets [[HollywoodHacking hacked]] and starts accusing and convicting people of trumped-up charges.
79	* ''VideoGame/VoidBastards'' has every aspect of the judicial system overseen by an AI installed into a clunky CRT monitor.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Western Animation]]
83	* The ''WesternAnimation/COPS1988'' episode "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 act as police, judge and warden and have a tendency towards AllCrimesAreEqual. Of course, because the councilman is in Big Boss's pocket, the machines will not arrest any of his crooks no matter what they do.
84	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E5FearOfABotPlanet Fear of a Bot Planet]]", the judge in the trial is an old Apple Macintosh, possibly as a reference to ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' above.
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': In the 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.
86	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E1TheCityOfNewYorkVsHomerSimpson The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson]]", when Homer's car is abandoned in New York City, he calls in to challenge the tickets.
87	-->'''Pleasant female voice:''' [[ForInconveniencePressOne To plead 'not guilty', press 'one' now]]. ''[Homer dials one]'' Thank you. Your plea has been...\
88	'''Male rough voice:''' Rejected.\
89	'''Pleasant female voice:''' You will be assessed the full fine plus a small...\
90	'''Male rough voice:''' Large lateness fee.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Real Life]]
94	* One time Creator/DaveBarry got a ticket for driving around with an expired registration. When he arrived in court [[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-01-01/features/8902220467_1_traffic-court-judge-machine-guns he discovered that the "judge" was a VHS recording]], after which everyone was herded to the clerk to pay their fine. Granted it's just VHS and not an actual computer, but the principle holds.
95	** Add some floppy disks, and ''Series/MaxHeadroom'' (see above) would be TruthInTelevision.
96	* Sodexo, who run the largest United Kingdom private probation network, [[http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/30/probation-officers-face-redundancy-in-plan-to-replace-them-with-machines announced]] a plan to replace most of its officers with machines, to the [[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/06/replace-probation-officers-machines-reoffending-rates-rise opposition of some]].
97	* In 2006, [[http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2006/09/china_does_guid.html a Chinese court]] used a software program to help them to decide prison sentences.
98	* A lawyer released the [[http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2011/08/seeking-reviews-for-appsprograms-that-helps-calculate-federal-guideline-ranges.html U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines calculator]], as a guide to help people calculate probable sentences based on the Federal Guidelines.
99	** The Federal Sentencing Guidelines themselves are sort of what a Computerized Justice System would look like [[UnbuiltTrope without the actual computer]] -- [[LoadsAndLoadsOfRules pages upon pages of guidelines]] sorting crimes by level of severity and cross-referencing those with the offender's criminal history to produce a uniform table of recommended sentences, with modifiers for aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The above calculator is meant to save the trouble of actually thumbing through a physical book.
100	* 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''.
101	** Already planned in Estonia (see below).
102	* 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 [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome wrong in 84% of cases]]. Politicians agree: it takes common sense to judge these kinds of things.
103	* 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 summons 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.
104	* On March 2019, UsefulNotes/{{Estonia}} [[https://www.wired.com/story/can-ai-be-fair-judge-court-estonia-thinks-so/ announced]] AI would be used to adjudicate small claims (''i.e.'' below €7,000, or about $8,000).
105	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ComputerizedJudicialSystem