Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Abstract
Judges and juries across the country are convicting criminal defendants based on secret evidence. Although defendants have sought access to the details of this evidence—the results of computer programs and their underlying algorithms and source codes—judges have generally denied their requests. Instead, judges have prioritized the business interests of the for-profit companies that developed these “conviction programs” and which could lose market share if the secret algorithms and source codes on which the programs are based were exposed. This decision has jeopardized criminal defendants’ constitutional rights.
Publication Title
Washington and Lee Law Review
Document Type
Article
Keywords
convictions, algorithms, computers, programs, technology, science, source code, probabilistic genotyping systems, DNA, breathalyzers, fingerprints, automated fingerprint identification systems, trade secrets, due process, constitution, confrontation clause, Brady, Crawford, Chambers, Holmes
Recommended Citation
Meghan J. Ryan, Secret Conviction Programs, 77 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 269 (2020)
