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The Centre for Criminological Research is organising a seminar series focusing on technology, crime and criminal justice. The second seminar will take place on 8 November titled “Police, Courts and Prison.”

Overview of the series

‘Technology’ taking place in Semester 1 2023-24 marks the first of our thematic CCR seminar series. It recognises the increasingly omnipresent effects of technology on the harms and crimes we experience (Panel 1); the criminal justice institutions who respond to those harms (panel 2); and, on the online crime control activities of non-state actors, including citizens, i.e., so-called paedophile hunters, and big tech and the private sector (Panel 3).

Our second thematic series will take place in Semester 2 2023-24 on the theme of ‘Carcerality’. Further details of speakers and events will be circulated nearer the time.

Date of event: Wednesday 8 November 2023

Event Time: 12 - 2 pm

Panellists:

Event Location: Online - Joining links will be sent the day before the event

The event is hosted by Professor Layla Skinns, Dr Marie Hutton, Dr Joe Purshouse and Dr Ana Morales-Gomez.

Panel 2: Police, Courts and Prison

12-2 pm, Wednesday 8 November 2023, Online

This seminar looks at the ways in which criminal justice institutions respond to and work with technology in its different guises and some of the ways in which the use of this technology impacts on those in conflict with the law in different jurisdictions. We begin with a look at the police’s use of technology in England and Wales, whether digital evidence in rape trials (Quirk) or rap music in criminal trials, particularly joint enterprise, and the criminalisation of young black men (Owusu-Bempah). We then turn our attention to the courts, particularly the use of video links between courts and prisons and its implication for ‘digital vulnerability’ in Australia (McKay). Lastly, we will consider the prison as a central site for the development of media technologies in Sweden (Stiernstedt and Kaun).

Abstract 1

Technology and Harm: Vulnerable people-in-prison and video links - Dr Carolyn McKay, University of Sydney

This presentation is based on a forthcoming journal article for a special issue on digitising corrections, co-authored with Kristin Macintosh of Sydney Law School. I will discuss the ‘digital vulnerability’ of people-in-prison, that is, the intersection between the vulnerabilities of incarcerated people with the use of remote communication technologies such as videoconferencing or video links, and the digital inequalities or harms that may be provoked or solved. The paper will draw on qualitative research undertaken for the Australian Government-funded Digital Criminal Justice Project: Vulnerability and the Digital Subject (2021-2024): 85 fieldwork interviews with judicial officers, lawyers and associated criminal justice professionals that reveal critical perspectives on the impacts of digital transformation on vulnerable people-in-prison.

Abstract 2

Art, not evidence: The criminalisation of rap in court - Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah, Associate Professor, LSE

Rap music lyrics and videos, often sourced through YouTube, social media, and phones, are increasingly used as evidence in criminal trials, despite the music often having no connection to the crime alleged. More specifically, the act of writing, performing, or even engaging with rap music, is treated as evidence of, among other things, motive, intention, or propensity for criminal behaviour. This is particularly prevalent in ‘joint enterprise’ cases where the music is used to support a racialised ‘gang’ narrative. This presentation will explore the current approach to the admissibility and use of rap music in English criminal trials. It will detail the profile of ‘rap cases’, challenge the categorisation of rap as ‘bad character evidence’, and critique the way in which questions of relevance and prejudicial effect have been addressed by the courts. It will present a case for law reform to restrict the admissibility of creative expression as evidence in criminal proceedings.

Abstract 3

Prison Media: Incarceration and the Infrastructures of Work and Technology - Professors Fredrik Stiernstedt and Professor Anne Kaun, Södertörn University

Prisons are not typically known for cutting-edge media technologies. Yet, from photography in the nineteenth century to AI-enhanced tracking cameras today, there is a long history of prisons being used as a testing ground for technologies that were later adopted by the general public. If we recognize the prison as a central site for developing media technologies, how might that change our understanding of media and carceral systems? Prison Media foregrounds the ways in which the prison is a model space for the control and transmission of information, a place where media is produced, and a medium in its own right.

Examining the relationship between media and prison architecture, as surveillance and communication technologies are literally built into the facilities, this study also considers the ways in which prisoners themselves often do hard labor as media workers—labor that contributes in direct and indirect ways to the latest technologies developed and sold by multinational corporations like Amazon. There is a fine line between ankle monitors and Fitbits, and Prison Media helps us make sense of today's carceral society.

Abstract 4

Investigating Rape Allegations: Artificial Intelligence and the ‘Digital Strip-Search’ - Dr Hannah Quirk, Kings College, London

The criminal justice system in England and Wales faces allegations of institutional misogyny following criminality and misconduct by police officers and difficulties in addressing sexual violence. Calls have been made for action to improve police investigations, prosecutorial decision making and, more controversially, conviction rates for rape. Under-resourced police services are overwhelmed by the volume of material they now have to examine from suspects’ and complainants social media accounts and smartphones. Some campaigners claim that complainants are deterred from cooperating with the police by fear of having their mobile phones taken for months while their text messages and social media posts are investigated. They have vividly described this process as a ‘digital strip search,’ and are seeking, with some success, to have access to this material restricted to protect complainants’ privacy. Concerns about suspects’ right to a fair trial receive much less publicity but are no less pressing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been adopted in other areas of law where large quantities of documentation need examining. Thus far, its use in criminal cases has been limited and worldwide, there is surprisingly little robust empirical evidence to help guide analysis and policy development regarding the police use of electronic data requests in sexual offence cases. Rape investigations differ from other cases, and they raise separate questions as to the use of technology. There are some advantages to AI solutions, but the human factors that make these cases uniquely difficult to prosecute are likely to be replicated in any technological solution. This chapter traces the difficulties that arise at each step of the process: reporting, investigating, and charging, and explores some of the possibilities where – properly resourced – innovations could help. It concludes that the challenges with using AI reflect the deep rooted, systemic problems regarding suspects’ rights, (lack of) investment in the criminal justice system and the difficulties with prosecuting sexual offences.

Speaker information:

Dr Carolyn McKay is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney Law School and Co-Director, Sydney Institute of Criminology. She is the author of The Pixelated Prisoner: Prison video links, court ‘appearance’ and the justice matrix (2018, Routledge) and is currently undertaking the Australian Government funded Digital Criminal Justice Project: Vulnerability and the Digital Subject (2021-2024).

Dr Abenaa Owusu-Bempah is Associate Professor of Law, London School of Economics. Her scholarship focuses on criminal procedure, the law of evidence and criminal law, with a particular emphasis on fair trial rights. She is the author of the book Defendant Participation in the Criminal Process (2017, Routledge).

Fredrik Stiernstedt is a Professor at the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden. Stiernstedt’s research concerns media history, digitalization and media industries and cultural production.

Anne Kaun is a Professor at the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden, and a Wallenberg Academy Fellow studying the democratic implications of automated decisions making, artificial intelligence and digitalization in the welfare sector.

Dr Hannah Quirk is Reader in Criminal Law at King's College London. She is the General Editor of The Criminal Law Review and is on the editorial board of The Wrongful Conviction Law Review. Dr Quirk is an assistant editor of The Crown Court Compendium and is delivering the Homicide Training for the Judicial College. She is an Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and an associate tenant at Drystone Chambers. Her monograph The Rise and Fall of the Right of Silence was published by Routledge in 2016