On Application of Digital Technologies in Penal Enforcement: Trends, Innovations, Risks
Ovchinnikov S.N. On application of digital technologies in penal enforcement: trends, innovations, risks. Penitentiary Science, 2025, vol. 19, no. 3 (71), pp. 261–269. doi 10.46741/2686-9764.2025.71.3.004.
: the article studies priority directions of the use of digital technologies in activities of the penal system. Despite a rather conservative nature of penitentiary practice, it is nevertheless susceptible to modern technological innovations, including high technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, etc. Purpose: to consider national priorities for digital transformation of the penitentiary system and potential opportunities for improving its activities through the introduction of innovative technological solutions. Objectives: to study the role of legal science in technologization of the public administration system, to analyze national priorities in the field of digital transformation, to determine directions of digitalization of the penal system, to reveal the potential use of criminological knowledge in the development of software products suitable for predicting individual behavior, as well as to structure the risks that may be associated with the introduction of innovative technologies in activities of the penal system. Methods: induction and deduction, abstraction, historical and legal, comparative, modeling. Results: the dialogue between representatives of legal and engineering branches of knowledge is much closer than it might seem. Strategic priorities for developing the domestic penal system indicate that technological innovations that perform a predictive function are in demand in penitentiary practice. Elaboration of these assessment tools requires not only the necessary infrastructure that meets modern requirements, but also the development of an algorithm based on the results of interdisciplinary scientific research, the subject of which is the identification of patterns of criminal behavior. In this regard, a conceptual model for personality assessment and behavior forecasting is constructed. It serves as a methodological basis of the PRO-SCORE computer program.
Keywords: digitalization; criminal justice; execution of sentences; convict’s personality assessment; criminological forecasting.
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