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The proliferation of technology for everyday living can be seen through or .

Technology can also be used towards less utilitarian ends. Unfortunately, deepfakes—digitally altered images of people—.

A new edited volume, which I co-edited, considers the use of everyday technologies in the criminal justice system, .

Technology and policing

Consider the use of body-worn cameras by police, as in the fatal shooting of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Greg Pierzchala in December 2022. Footage from his body camera will provide evidence during .

Police investigations have also been aided by private citizen sleuths via technology, who gather evidence to help police identify criminals. This was the case with , where an online network and provided the information to law enforcement agencies.

Another use of technology can be for public surveillance for crime prevention through the application of facial recognition software.

Security cameras are now a ubiquitous feature in public places. In 2021, it was estimated that . China is listed as having about .

In 2020, Toronto had approximately .

Security cameras may or may not be used in conjunction with facial recognition software.

Finding faces

Facial recognition uses software to identify or confirm someone's identity using an image of their face. Captured faces are compared to a database, often for the purposes of .

Some retailers have used facial recognition to help reduce theft. In 2022, Josh Soika, an Indigenous man, was confronted by a security guard due to being "flagged" as having . Later, it was determined that used by Canadian Tire for facial recognition.

In 2023, Canadian Tire Corporation and its dealers have since agreed to .

In the United States recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned the pharmacy chain Rite Aid for five years from using facial recognition software to identify customers who have stolen merchandise or . In some instances, Rite Aid workers would follow "identified" customers around, accuse them of stealing and call police. People of color were falsely identified at a greater rate than white customers.

It is important to note that someone who has shoplifted in the past isn't necessarily planning to shoplift again.

The use of facial recognition software in Canada is controversial. In 2021, it was reported that Toronto police used Clearview AI, a facial recognition software, in 84 investigations, . Once it was discovered by the police chief however, the practice was stopped.

Discrimination and AI

Accuracy rates with facial recognition software , but . Facial recognition software is documented to misidentify women, racialized people and those between the ages of 18 and 30 years, .

In February 2023, Porcha Woodruff, a 32-year-old pregnant Black woman from Detroit, was arrested for robbery and carjacking based on a facial recognition match. Police used AI that had run an image of a carjacker caught on video through a mugshot database that contained Woodruff's photo, and incorrectly matched it.

Woodruff was . The charges were dropped, and Woodruff is currently suing the .

Consequences of misidentification

According to the U.S.-based Innocence Project, more than 70% of known wrongful convictions are due to . The Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions finds approximately .

People can show what is known as "" when identifying faces; people are more accurate when .

The misidentification of a perpetrator—whether by a human or an AI program—can lead to the same consequences: being charged, prosecuted or wrongfully convicted. Technology, as with humans, isn't always accurate and may succumb to similar biases.

Legislation must keep up to protect people's rights and privacy. As technology evolves, adequate information and full transparency needs to be provided to the public on how, when and where a technology is in use. It also is clear that much more research is needed to on the criminal justice system.