MTCT: Using AI and machine learning to help Police Forces automate Out of Court Order administration, streamline the restorative justice process and help reduce the court backlog.

With criminal justice cuts, legal aid issues, barristers' strikes and COVID, the UK has seen court backlogs spiral to over 400,000 cases and left victims waiting years for justice. Majority of cases will be for low-level offences from repeat offenders,

* Only 10% of cases result in custodial sentences.
* 90% of all cases brought against people who already have one conviction or more,

Alternatives are drastically needed to reduce court burden and address reoffending.

An Out of Court Disposal (OOCD) is a method of resolving low-level crime when an offender is known and admits offence. A driving principle for OOCDs is to reduce re-offending by consultation with the victim and enabling diversion and restorative justice (RJ). UK's largest OOCD trial recently completed in London. Result show that users processed via OOCD:

* 30% less likely to reoffend
* 58% less for those aged 18-21
* 34% reduction in offending for users from BAME groups

This would have transformative results if applied at-scale. However the OOCD process is time-consuming and there's no technology to support Officers implementing OOCDs, nor assess effectiveness as a recidivism deterrent. This puts significant administrative and moral pressure on Officers, resulting in a high-level of subjectivity and huge regional and ethnic disparities in OOCD use.

Working with the London MET police and Cambridge Centre for Evidence Based Policing, Make Time Count Today intend to develop a highly innovative AI data analytics platform to help police forces:

1. Review current court backlog and determine which cases could be dealt with as an OOCD;
2. Predict effectiveness of OOCD process as a mechanism to prevent reoffending vs court,
3. Streamline and automate the administrative pinch-points in the OOCD process;
4. Embed RJ frameworks into OOCD system to improve outcomes;

And ultimately:

* Reduce number of low-level offences processed through courts
* Reduce re-offending through use of OOCD and RJ.