Get involved in techUK’s Digital Justice Week
A call to all techUK members and Justice & Emergency Services stakeholders to get involved in techUK’s Digital Justice Week which will be taking place from Monday 17 May – Friday 21 May 2021.
Digitisation will transform the UK’s justice system and put the service users at the core. With the impact of COVID-19, we saw digital working and adoption accelerated across areas of the criminal justice system (CJS), but we still have a long way to go.
Each day during this week of May there will be a theme for you to contribute towards – whether this be guest blog posts, tweets (#DigitalJustice2021) or a case study. If this is a thought leadership blog post, we would ask this to be 600-800 words, if a case study this could be a paper you would like to share or a video which demonstrates your view on the topic. Read the full contributor guidelines here.
Please email [email protected] if you would like to submit a blog along with the theme it falls under. Deadline for blogs – 12 May.
We would like to invite you to contribute towards one of the below themed days. If you have a different theme or topic in mind, please reach out and we would be more than happy to discuss this with you.
Monday – Collaboration for prevention
Criminal justice researchers often use the phrase “revolving prison door” to refer to the fact that many ex-offenders end up right back in prison. So, how can agencies work better together to stop this ‘revolving prison door’ scenario’? What initiatives have we seen implemented to, for example, prevent gang and youth violence? How are tech companies working together with other agencies to prevent repeat offenders from re-entering the prison system? When ex-offenders leave the prison system, what does this support look like? To add to this, how are agencies working together to drive down reoffending rates? These are just some of many questions we are keen to answer.
Tuesday – ‘Digitising Prisons and the Probation Service’
Exploring anything from infrastructure, in-cell telephony, healthcare services to rehabilitation, education and skills. With national lockdowns introduced and social distancing measures implemented, we saw prison and probation service processes having to change overnight. How did technology support these processes? What have we learnt from the last year and, what more needs to be done to drive the use of digital technologies across the prison and probation service?
Wednesday – ‘Digital Courts’
Looking at the common platform, forensics, future hearings and how the UK Courts system can make better use of digital technologies to support the vulnerable, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. At the height of the pandemic, how did technology help the system to ‘carry on’? How can digital support in the response to the backlogs the courts are facing today? What does the use of online and video technology in criminal courts look like and, what are the flaws or challenges?
Thursday – ‘Transformative Tech’
What new transformative technologies are shaping the UK Justice System of tomorrow? Digitalisation and new technologies will improve processes and join up services. The volume and range of technologies available to support the justice system is vast – whether this be automation, biometrics or cloud technology. Where have we seen new technologies implemented? What are the barriers to implementation? What is needed to drive adoption? Which technologies are likely to be adopted as standard in the next 10 or 20 years? Share your thoughts and ‘future gaze’ the art of the possible.
Friday – ‘Connected Justice’
As the end user moves through the Justice System, what does this experience look like from start to finish? How does tech support the end-user? How can it improve processes? How are key organisations communicating? How is data moving through the justice system? These are just some questions we are looking to answer as we seek to understand more about how we move towards an interoperable justice system and how agencies are currently connected or could be better connected.
If you would like to contribute a guest blog to the #DigitalJustice2021 week, please get in touch with [email protected] with your expression of interest on the topic you’d like to contribute to by Monday 10 May. Guest blogs will need to be submitted by Wednesday 12 May.
Georgie Morgan
Georgie joined techUK as the Justice and Emergency Services (JES) Programme Manager in March 2020, then becoming Head of Programme in January 2022.
