Ethos Education

Mercy: Can Justice be Truly Fair?

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Learning Objectives

Students will:

  • Understand human justice systems
  • Explore whether human justice systems can be completely fair
  • Consider the strengths and weaknesses of potentially using artificial intelligence in the legal process
  • Understand the biblical concept of ultimate divine judgement

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

  • compare the features of human justice, AI-enabled justice, and ultimate divine judgement
  • identify why fairness in the justice system, in this world, is complex
  • evaluate Christian beliefs about ultimate divine judgement
  • evaluate what is needed for true justice
  • express and justify their own reasoned viewpoint

Supporting Values Education

This lesson supports mutual respect and tolerance by exploring fairness and equality before the law. It promotes the rule of law by examining how justice systems operate and why fairness matters. It also encourages individual liberty through discussion of rights, responsibilities, and protection against wrongful conviction.

Film clips: Mercy (Amazon MGM Studios) Certificate: 12A.

1. Featurette (52s) (N.B. At the end of this featurette Chris Pratt uses an expletive which is bleeped out. To avoid this, you can stop the video at 35 seconds, when Raven says “Get me out of here”.)

2. Pleading Not Guilty (1m 1s)

3. Were You Just Programmed Wrong? (22s)

Bible

  • Psalm 139:1 (NIRV) “Lord, you have seen what is in my heart. You know all about me.”
  • Hebrews 4:13 (NIRV) “Nothing God created is hidden from him. His eyes see everything. He will hold us responsible for everything we do.”
  • Romans 2:2 (NIRV) “We know that when God judges those who do evil things, he judges fairly.”

STARTER

Select from the following statements, as appropriate to your class, and read them out one at a time (or display them on the board).

Ask pupils to stand somewhere on a line between ‘agree’ and ‘disagree’ according to the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statement.

If appropriate, invite students to briefly explain their reasons.

Statements from which you can draw:

  • “Being arrested means someone has probably done something wrong.”
  • “Everyone is treated equally in a court of law.”
  • “Human juries make fair decisions.”
  • “AI, with access to all the facts, would make better decisions than human juries.”
  • “Facts are more reliable than people’s instincts and intuitions.”
  • “People who are intelligent and articulate have an unfair advantage in a court of law.”
  • “Judges and juries can be influenced by their personal assumptions and preconceptions.”

Explain that this lesson draws upon the new feature film Mercy. It will explore whether the human justice system can ever be completely fair, the strengths and weaknesses of potentially using artificial intelligence in the legal process, and Christian beliefs about ultimate divine judgement.

Play the Mercy featurette. (N.B. At the end of this featurette Chris Pratt uses an expletive which is bleeped out. To avoid this, you can stop the video at 35 seconds, when Raven says “Get me out of here”.)

If you cannot play this YouTube video, instead display the Mercy PowerPoint and use the following script:

  • Slide 1: “Set in the near future, the feature film Mercy”
  • Slide 2: “shows a world that has become dangerous, with criminals walking free and crime rates rising because the justice system is slow and affected by human error.“
  • Slide 3: “Detective Christopher Raven, played by Chris Pratt,”
  • Slide 4: “establishes a new system called Mercy designed to deliver swift justice. The Mercy Court uses artificial intelligence as judge, jury, and executioner for those charged with murder.”
  • Slide 5: “The AI judge, Judge Maddox, played by Rebecca Ferguson, has no emotion. Rather it has access to all the facts through cameras, mobile phones, and databases, allowing it to analyse evidence instantly and deliver immediate punishment.
  • Slide 6: “The situation becomes ironic when Raven himself wakes up on trial in the Mercy Court.”
  • Slide 7: “Judge Maddox informs him that he is charged with the murder of his wife and has 90 minutes to prove his innocence.”

MAIN ACTIVITIES.

Explain that we are going to hold a debate on the proposition that: “The justice system would be improved by using Artificial Intelligence rather than human judges and juries.”

To introduce this, play the following two clips: Pleading Not Guilty and Were You Just Programmed Wrong?

If you cannot play these YouTube videos, instead display slides from the Mercy PowerPoint and say: –

  • Slide 8: “Detective Raven is strapped into an execution chair as the AI judge begins his trial. She asks how he pleads. Raven insists that he is not guilty and would never have harmed his wife.”
  • Slide 9: “The AI judge responds without emotion, stating that the available evidence gives a 97.5 percent probability that he is guilty, well above the threshold required to proceed with a Mercy trial. The judge explains that the Mercy system has access to the Los Angeles municipal cloud, where citizens and organisations are required to connect their devices. Using this data, the AI can analyse vast amounts of information to reach its verdicts.”
  • Slide 10: “Raven is told he may use any available resources to provide evidence of his innocence. The judge then states calmly that if he is found guilty, he will be executed in exactly 90 minutes. A countdown begins as his trial officially starts.”
  • Slide 11: “Raven says that the court would benefit from some human intuition. The AI judge responds that the court deals only in facts.”
  • Slide 12: “Raven argues that facts are only the starting point of an investigation. He explains that facts may appear black and white, but truth is often found in the grey areas between them. He suggests the system may have overlooked this, and challenges whether the AI has been programmed correctly.”

Invite two students to argue for the proposition and two to argue against. Explain that everyone else will be able to contribute from the floor during the debate.

Give everyone a copy of the Judicial AI Debate Briefing document. Invite the two proposers/opposers to prepare a short speech, whilst the rest think, individually, of questions or comments they might make during the debate. Each student should write their thoughts in the box on the briefing document.

You might need to support some of the students as they prepare their speeches or questions/comments. The following thought-starters may be helpful:

  • Would AI make justice fairer, more accurate, and free from human bias?
  • Are human judges and juries affected by prejudices and personal opinions?
  • Does AI have built-in biases?
  • Is judicial fairness improved when bias is removed?
  • What is the difference between AI and humans in accessing and evaluating evidence?
  • Does more evidence lead to better decisions?
  • Do humans and computers make errors?
  • Does justice require wisdom, compassion, and moral judgement, rather than just facts?
  • Do people’s circumstances and intentions matter to justice?
  • Does a purely factual system ignore humanity?

Chair the debate for an appropriate time, then hold a vote on the proposition.

Alternatively, if you do not think that one plenary debate is best for your class, you could invite the students to get into small groups and hold mini-debates in those groups.

When you draw the debate to a close, invite the students to think about one key underlying question. Display Slide 13 from the Mercy PowerPoint which poses the question: “Is AI attractive because it could provide an impartial, objective, all-knowing judge outside of human limitations?”

As appropriate for your students, teach that:

  • Some people find the idea of artificial intelligence attractive because it seems to offer an impartial, objective judge. One that is not influenced by prejudice, emotion, or human limitations.
  • But this idea of a perfectly fair judge is not new. For thousands of years, people have asked whether true justice is possible and who could deliver it.
  • Christians believe that perfect justice ultimately belongs to God.

Display Slides 14-16 which provide Bible (NIRV) verses related to Christian beliefs about ultimate divine judgement. As appropriate for your students, teach what many Christians believe from these verses:

  • Slide 14: Psalm 139:1 says that God knows everything about us. This suggests that nothing about a person’s thoughts, motives, or actions is hidden from God.
  • Slide 15: Hebrews 4:13 says that nothing in creation is hidden from God’s sight, and that everyone is accountable to him. Christians believe this means God sees the full truth, not just the evidence that can be presented in court.
  • Slide 16: Romans 2:2 teaches that when God judges, he judges fairly. Christians believe that God is perfectly just, because he knows everything and cannot be biased or mistaken.
  • This does not mean that human justice systems are unimportant. Courts and laws still matter for maintaining order and protecting people. However, human systems are limited and imperfect. Christians believe that, ultimately, complete and perfect justice rests with God.
  • So, while technology might promise a more objective system, Christians believe that true, perfect justice comes from a judge who knows everything, understands every motive, and judges with complete fairness.
  • Christians believe that, even when there is a miscarriage of justice in this world, there will be ultimate justice when people stand before God, whatever has been decided in a court of law.
  • Christians also believe that God offers eternal forgiveness, for those who repent of their sin and turn to Christ, through Jesus’ death on the cross which paid the price for human sin.

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING

As appropriate for your students, give out the Ultimate Justice worksheet. Ask the students to complete the table using balanced evaluation, assessing each system on its own terms, and writing in each box: “low”, “medium”, or “high”. In the final box, they should give their own view, supported by reasons and examples from the lesson.

YOU WILL NEED:

Photo copyright: Amazon MGM Studios (sourced from IMDB)

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