Family court judges use victim-blaming language in domestic abuse cases, finds AI project

An AI analysis found survivors of domestic abuse were met with an attitude of disbelief and victim-blaming by judges in family court. Photograph: Londonstills.com/Alamy

Judges in the family courts are using victim-blaming and gender-biased language towards domestic abuse survivors, AI analysis of judgments and appeals in England and Wales reveals.

The findings are the result of a project called herEthical AI, which trains computers to identify attitudes among judges that it warns is resulting in the retraumatisation of domestic abuse survivors in the family courts.