Access to The Champion archive is one of many exclusive member benefits. It’s normally restricted to just NACDL members. However, this content, and others like it, is available to everyone in order to educate the public on why criminal justice reform is a necessity.
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential — transforming legal practice, enhancing public safety, and ushering in a new era of justice. Yet, without robust safeguards, AI risks becoming a dangerously weaponized tool, threatening constitutional rights and hastening a digital dystopia. Left unchecked, AI disproportionally impacts marginalized communities, creating a troubling reality where innocence is presumed guilty by algorithm.
Consider Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) — tiny constables, small yet powerful surveillance devices, continuously tracking and recording every vehicle’s movement. These devices combine with AI to allow law enforcement to compile massive databases detailing the activities, lives, and movements of every individual. Where and when they go to work, attend religious services, see a doctor. Where and with whom they assemble. This constant surveillance attacks our constitutional protections, transforming our public roads into ubiquitous surveillance zones devoid of meaningful privacy.
Compounding these concerns is the broader issue of surveillance capitalism. Private corporations aggressively harvest unimaginable amounts of personal data, viewing privacy as mere collateral in a lucrative gold rush. Law enforcement’s access to these vast data troves without sufficient safeguards accelerates the erosion of constitutional rights, creating an expansive and dangerous backdoor into our private lives.
Law enforcement has enormously powerful weapons to obtain backdoor access to mountains of data, including geofence warrants and reverse keyword searches. Reverse keyword searches allow law enforcement to identify individuals based on their online searches, effectively surveilling every person’s private thoughts. This invasive practice taps into the extensive data collected by the most powerful private corporations in the world (search engines, social media platforms, and technology companies). Law enforcement harnesses the power of these corporations’ vast data pools — leveraging AI to swiftly sort through immense amounts of information — thereby creating an unchecked gateway into our private lives.
The real-world consequences of AI-driven practices are already starkly evident. Biased algorithms reinforce systemic inequalities, faulty data triggers wrongful arrests, and pervasive surveillance chills essential freedoms of expression and association. These technologies exist in what is essentially a “black box” — law enforcement using them, and the authorities permitting their use, do not fully understand how they work.
NACDL’s Fourth Amendment Center is championing transparency and accountability while rigorously challenging the threats presented. We do so on multiple fronts. Our AI Task Force is actively establishing clear policies and ethical standards surrounding artificial intelligence, diligently monitoring its profound impact on criminal defense practice and our clients. Additionally, NACDL’s leadership is authoring a groundbreaking white paper that will lead the way on AI ethics, guiding our legal community through these complex challenges. The choice is clear, and the stakes are immense. AI must empower justice, not erode it. NACDL proudly commits to guiding our profession toward a future anchored firmly in the constitutional principles we all believe in — not dictated by the cold, unfeeling logic of machines. Together, we must ensure justice remains human-centered, fair, and robustly defended.
About the Author
Andy Birrell is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He represents clients in all phases of criminal law and related matters from grand jury investigations through trials and appeals in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Birrell is also a seasoned appellate lawyer, having argued before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Andrew S. Birrell (NACDL Life Member)
Birrell Law Firm, PLLC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
612-238-1939
andy@birrell.law
https://www.birrellcriminaldefense.com
