Legal and Ethical Challenges in Using Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Investigations

Abstract

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in criminal investigations is revolutionizing law enforcement by enabling faster data analysis, suspect identification, and predictive policing. However, its adoption raises significant legal and ethical concerns related to privacy, fairness, and accountability. Existing AI methods often operate as "black boxes," lacking transparency and interpretability, which complicates their use in legal contexts and raises concerns about biased outcomes and potential due process violations. To address these limitations, this study proposes the Ethically-Aligned AI Risk Assessment (EA-AIRA) framework. EA-AIRA embeds ethical and legal principles into the core of AI systems through stakeholder-driven design, continuous ethical auditing, and legally compliant algorithmic constraints. This framework is applied in predictive policing to assess crime risks, ensuring that decisions are explainable, non-discriminatory, and aligned with civil liberties. The proposed method facilitates trust and accountability by enabling legal experts, ethicists, and communities to participate in system oversight. Findings demonstrate that EA-AIRA reduces algorithmic bias, improves public trust by 97.6%, and ensures AI-driven investigations are more legally robust by 98.2%, and ethically sound, with an explainability level of 96.7% and a legal compliance score of 99.1%, making it a viable model for responsible AI use in criminal justice.

Ähnliche Arbeiten