Criminal Psychology and Artificial Intelligence (AI): Risk Factors and Implications

In the field of criminal psychology, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to have a significant impact on effective technology development and application for crime response by providing and analyzing information based on extensive data for improving crime prevention, investigation, and offender rehabilitation programs. This study examined the use of AI in the field of criminal psychology, analyzed the risk factors of AI, and discussed its implications. This study was conducted using a literature review method that analyzed related academic research results, and research reports, and recent press articles. The results of the study confirmed that the risk factors of AI in the field of criminal psychology include: 1) prejudice and discrimination (bias of AI algorithms), 2) lack of transparency and accuracy (black box effect), 3) ethical concerns, 4) excessive reliance on AI, 5) data privacy and security violations, 6) unclear responsibility and accountability for incorrect judgments, 7) imperfection of human psychological assessment, 8) manipulation and misuse of AI systems, and 9) loss of human elements in criminal justice. As an implication of this, it was pointed out that AI-based predictive systems used to profile or predict criminal behavior may be inherently flawed or overly deterministic. In addition, ethical issues arise, such as the bias of AI algorithms, privacy rights, and the possibility of misuse in predictive policing. Therefore, the fairness and transparency of the operation of AI systems must be guaranteed. In order to secure the fairness of the operation of AI systems, strict supervision, continuous evaluation, and participation of experts are required to eliminate bias, enhance ethics, and secure transparency. Criminal justice policymakers, criminal psychologists/police science scholars, and scientists need to build a systematic system to balance human judgment, responsibility, and ethical standards for the use of AI technology in the field of criminal psychology. Finally, the academic and policy implications of this study were discussed along with its limitations.