China has tested a software programme designed to “help decide prison sentences”, Reuters reports.
According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, judges in Zichuan District Court in the city of Zibo, Shandong province, have for the last two years entered details of a crime into a computer which then delivers its verdict.
Sun Microsystems
Whether the judicial PC has the final say is, however, unclear as Reuters notes that “court rulings are often decided by ‘trial committees’ made up of judges and Communist Party officials”.
Nonetheless, the software’s developer, Qin Ye, told the paper: “The software is aimed at ensuring standardised decisions on prison terms. Our programs set standard terms for any subtle distinctions in different cases of the same crime.”
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