THE FUTURE IS TOMORROW

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."


One of the most recognisable opening paragraphs of a novel ever written; it is of course a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 1859. That year also saw the publication of what could be argued was the most influential and far seeing theory of all time vying with Einstein`s Theory of Relativity; On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin. It sold out in a matter of days. Both publications developed the idea of time both absolute and relative and are instrumental to this day in how we view the natural world. 


Perhaps in his novel it could be described as Dickens looking back and forward simultaneously from a tumultuous period still within the memory of many of his readers to an England approaching its zenith as an empire builder. With significant imminent changes to our system of lower courts in more than 50 years expected shortly it prompted me to think of how magistrates courts would be operating in the next 50 years.


1. Virtual and Decentralised Courtrooms

Personal appearances by interested parties ie bench, legal advisor, defendant and witnesses would be the exception rather than the rule. Virtual reality systems are currently at a stage where TV was in 1950. By 2075 all immersive systems will be the norm including AI simultaneous translating systems.


2. AI-Powered Legal Processing

Non human sentencing by AI will be the norm with the possibility of appeal to what might still be recognised as today`s bench of a judge and two magistrates.


3. Reform-Focused Justice

Courts will prioritise rehabilitation and social integration over punishment. Possibly with the use of compulsory medical [physical and psychological] intervention. Out of court pathways with a Dickensian Christian pathway updated for a modern workhouse concept will become available for recidivists.

 4. Data-Driven Sentencing

Current sentencing guidelines will be as simple arithmetic cf simultaneous equations in 2075.  With billions of bits of information it will be the natural extension of 2. above.

 

5. Magistrates as Legal Navigators

If lay magistrates have not been replaced completely by District Judges [MC] an entirely optimistic position,  they will work alongside AI systems to ensure fairness, ethics and social context are considered.

6. Transparency and Public Access

Almost certainly the proceedings at many magistrates courts will be transmitted by live TV or VR to local areas with advertisers paying fees per types of courts eg remand,  trial or sentencing with hard copy newspaper reports as outdated as pen and ink.  Current court TV is a very basic concept but it has established the principle. 

There will be of necessity human hands within or available in the chain of events as per 2. above.  A light hand on the tiller for continuous monitoring to ensure decisions are free from algorithmic bias especially with biometric data and personal analytics will monitor events in real time.

Of course all the above might be derailed by man made or natural catastrophe.  The generals and politicians involved in British policy at the time of the Boer War of 1899-1902 could never have foreseen the situation in 1939-1945 in their wildest nightmares.  Slave trading was abolished in 1807, transportation to Australia was effectively stopped in 1857 and both decisions were considered to be monumental errors by some vested interests.  However ever increasing influence of AI in so many aspects of our lives now and in the near future is likely to have similar unexpected repercussions as did the industrial revolution except the time frame will be in decades and not centuries. 

When I started school the family had to be put on a waiting list to have a shared party line  telephone, trams were the transport for 90% of city journeys, I learned to write with a  slate pencil on a slate board, I watched the 1953 coronation on a rich aunt`s 12" television set. On the other hand I played in the street, walked to school from 5 years old with my classmate next door, played in a local park a mile from home at 7 with my younger cousin and ran off when the park keeper thought we were misbehaving, travelled alone when I was 8 on a 300 mile train journey and wanted to be an astrophysicist when I grew up; an ambition foiled when I discovered my maths wasn`t up to the task. Blogging has been around for a quarter of a century and this blog since 2013.  I wouldn`t bet the term will still be around in 2075. Like the word charabanc probably unfamiliar to many readers not retired it will probably be out of use long before then. 

The future is tomorrow: long might it continue.