Artificial Intelligence In The Criminal Justice System: A Constitutional Analysis Of Predictive Policing, Facial Recognition, And Article 21
Ms. Chhavi, Advocate
Raushan Kumar Mohan, Advocate
ABSTRACT
As one of the most promising and transformative applications of AI, it has the potential to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system, enabling law enforcement agencies to predict crime, identify suspects, monitor public areas, analyze evidence, and make decisions during investigations. Predictive policing and facial recognition are two of the most important uses of AI. Predictive policing relies on patterns of past crime and models that can predict where or who future crime may occur, and facial recognition technology is a biometric method that involves automatically matching the characteristics of a face with those in a database. The government use of these technologies brings significant constitutional issues in a democratic, rule of law society, such as efficiency, speed and crime prevention.
This paper analyses the constitutional consequences of the use of AI in police activities in India, specifically in the context of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. The main issue that is raised is whether the practice of predictive policing and facial recognition is compatible with the right to life, personal liberty, privacy, dignity, fair procedure and protection against arbitrary acts of the State. The study is based on a doctrinal research methodology and analytical approach, using constitutional provisions, case laws, statute laws, policy documents and comparative regulatory approaches. The paper states that AI is not inherently unconstitutional in the criminal justice system, but its misuse can lead to issues like mass surveillance, algorithmic bias, misidentification, discriminatory policing, and due process violations. It finds that all the use of AI in criminal justice should meet constitutional criteria of legality, necessity, proportionality, transparency, accountability and human oversight. This is why it is important that there is a rights-based approach to legal structure so that technological innovation does not infringe on the constitutional rights guaranteed by Article 21.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Criminal Justice System, Predictive Policing, Facial Recognition, Article 21, Right to Privacy, Personal Liberty, Due Process, Algorithmic Bias, Surveillance, Constitutional Law, Human Rights.
