Concern About the Use of Artificial Intelligence by Single Justice Procedure Defendants

The Magistrates' Association (MA) has expressed concern about the use of artificial intelligence by Single Justice Procedure (SJP) defendants.

In a message to members Mark Beattie JP, MA National Chairman, said: "The use of AI in the justice system is coming faster than I had expected.

"Most noticeably in single justice courts where defendants are using ChatGPT to help them with their mitigation when they enter a plea online.

"Pop over to ChatGPT and ask it 'Help mitigate a fare evasion' fine for an example of how it is being used."

Apparently MA members have noticed striking similarities in the mitigation of multiple defendants. When ChatGPT was consulted for its opinion, it came out with something very similar again.

The MA is concerned that defendants could just be churning out any old gobbledegook, some of which might originate from overseas jurisdictions.

Of course the defendants concerned could just be avid readers of the publicly available Sentencing Council Magistrates' Court Sentencing Guidelines.

When appearing in person before the court the onus is on every defendant to provide honest mitigation - indeed failure to do so could constitute an offence in its own right.

However, with a remote system like SJP there isn't the same opportunity to corroborate the information provided. As the MA rightly highlights, this could further undermine public confidence in the system.

The Government has now indicated, albeit tentatively, that it might take a closer look at the SJP system. That's some positive news, anyway.