Strongly related to the UNA-Europa Project FACE and die Digital Citizenship Initiative at John Jay College (CUNY) in this project we (Dr. Aneta Leszczynska in cooperation with colleagues from University of Toronto and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carsten Momsen) will focus on the impact of the use of AI (and other new technologies) on the evidence process and the law of evidence and the further impact on the structure of criminal offenses (Tatbestände).

The project "From Blackstone to AI" will explore whether the use of new technologies leads to a return to an understanding of the subjective fact (mens rea) that is strongly based on objective circumstantial evidence and probabilities (objective expectations in Blackstone's sense). Blackstone felt compelled to do this because, after the abolition of torture, there was no way to obtain coerced confessions and there was a fundamental distrust of tortured confessions. In the current discussion of criminal policy, there are increasing attempts to calculate probabilities by means of data-based predictions of the perpetrator, which take the place of proof of intent. Here, we will show how modern technologies affect the design of criminal offenses.

Carsten Momsen, William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law of England Band 4: Ein Grundlagentext des amerikanischen Straftatsystems, in: Rostalski, Frauke (Hrsg.): Grundlagen und Konzepte des Strafrechts - Zur Leistungsfähigkeit von Straftatsystemsen, 2021, S. 209-250.