Khaleej Times, Saturday, Aug 13, 2022 | Muharram 14, 1444
Abu Dhabi introduces new machine learning programme to follow up on criminal cases
Emirates: A new smart program has been
developed to follow up and speed cases in Abu Dhabi criminal courts using
machine learning, authorities have announced.
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) on Monday said the programme, which is
a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI), aims to increase the accomplishment rate
and speed of adjudication of criminal cases. They are also working on updating
the programme to include electronic judgements in crimes that end either by
conciliation or waiver and crimes that have passed the statute of limitations.
Counselor Youssef Saeed Al Abri, Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Judicial
Department, said that employing Artificial Intelligence techniques to follow up
on the work of the criminal courts is a paradigm shift in the judicial system in
the capital, which is line with the leaders’ vision to develop smart and
innovative future courts that provide world-class services.
Counselor Mansour Al Marzouqi, President of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court,
explained that the uses of machine learning currently applied in the criminal
courts are manifested in the immediate follow-up of all the work of the judicial
divisions, by providing accurate statistics of the completed cases, the underway
cases, the follow-up of those in custody in pending cases, accomplishment rate,
and adjourned cases, which provide clear indications to ensure that urgent steps
are taken to expedite dealing with cases..
“The smart program, enhanced with AI techniques, also allows the possibility of
describing the judgement, whether in presence or in absentia in electronic form,
while allowing the transfer of substantial data to the draft judgement, such as
the names of the accused, the charges articles, and a description of the charges
against the accused in the cases before the Criminal Court,” he added.
Al Marzouqi pointed out that work is underway to update the system to
accommodate many procedures in criminal cases, to include the issuance of
judgements electronically in crimes that end by conciliation or waiver, as soon
as the waiver or conciliation is proven in a number of cases, including assault,
verbal abuse, and destruction, as well as crimes that have elapsed their statute
of limitations.
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department had in 2019 reported that judges started using
AI systems to decide when - and for how long - criminals should be jailed.
Khawla Salem Al Qubaisi, IT director at the ADJD, earlier told Khaleej Times
that the department introduced the AI system in courts to assess risks and help
judges in sentencing criminals.
"To create the AI system, our team uses computers to analyse data from different court cases. We use the historical data through machine-learning algorithms,” she said.