Leveson has spoken after David Lammy rolled out measures to cut the number of cases waiting to be heard at courts such as the Old Bailey. (Press Association via AP Images)
The former senior judge told Law360 in an interview that his proposal to harness AI to help prosecutors save time and resources as they process and review materials in criminal cases was essential if the backlog of cases was to be cut.
"There isn't a copper in the world that could go through [it all], or a prosecutor, or a defense lawyer," Leveson said. "There have to be mechanisms to search data, because data has become ubiquitous to every single criminal case."
Leveson spoke shortly after Justice Secretary David Lammy rolled out a package of measures — funding, modernization and reforms — aimed at reducing the number of cases waiting to be heard in the crown courts.
The government was due to introduce legislation based on Leveson's recommendations on Wednesday. The measures are set to limit the right to jury trials, including in serious fraud cases, and boost the use of AI in disclosure of unused material. The criminal justice system is buckling under a backlog of almost 80,000 cases at the Crown Courts, a figure forecast to rise to 125,000 by 2029.
Leveson's proposals on AI have been broadly accepted by defense lawyers, who say it could ease the budgetary and resourcing pressure on agencies including the Crown Proseuction Service and Serious Fraud Office.
But lawyers have told Law360 that they have serious concerns about the ability of prosecutors to properly understand their own software, and use it, following a series of failures to disclose material that is potentially relevant to the defense.
Leveson acknowledged when he was asked about those concerns that lawyers, prosecutors and judges would need training and time to get them up to speed.
But, he said, they would have to "get on with it" because there is "just too much data."
"That's going to require police officers to search appropriately," Leveson said. "It's going to require prosecutors and defense lawyers to know what questions to ask to generate the unused material. Because, if you don't, there is disaster."
Leveson said that everyone had to accept that change was required as trials have become more complex to address measures introduced in the last several decades to make them fairer for defendants and victims.
"We've got to cope with it, he said. "And we've got to be able to cope with it within a reasonable time frame. Otherwise, our backlogs are just going to get larger and larger."
--Editing by Ed Harris.
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