What does this research mean for the field?

Crime victims' trust in judges and their acceptance of court judgments are largely unaffected by the judge's use of generative AI, suggesting that hybrid human-AI judicial decision-making is viable from a victim's perspective. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To examine whether a judge's use of generative artificial intelligence in judicial decision making negatively affects perceived trustworthiness, trust, and judgment acceptance from a crime victim's perspective.

August 23, 2026Technology Mind and BehaviorOpen Access

Would you trust and accept judges using generative artificial intelligence if you became victim of a crime?

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To examine whether a judge's use of generative artificial intelligence in judicial decision making negatively affects perceived trustworthiness, trust, and judgment acceptance from a crime victim's perspective.
Conducted two vignette-based online experiments with German participants adopting the perspective of a street crime victim (Study 1: N=282; Study 2: N=464).
Manipulated decision support across conditions: Study 1 evaluated no AI versus generative AI use; Study 2 added a human-judge support condition to differentiate AI from human assistance.
Evaluated outcomes using frequentist effect sizes and Bayesian analyses to assess perceived ability, benevolence, integrity, trust in the judge, and acceptance of the judgment.
Identified a statistically significant negative effect of generative AI use on perceived judicial integrity (d = 0.46) in Study 1.
Observed no significant negative effects on perceived ability, benevolence, general trust, or judgment acceptance across both studies, with Bayesian analyses favoring the null hypothesis.
Found that the negative effect on perceived integrity did not replicate in Study 2, where Bayesian evidence also supported the null hypothesis.

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Implication

Experimental study reveals limited negative effects of judicial generative AI use on perceived integrity in simulated crime victims, highlighting potential for hybrid decision-making.

Cite This Study

Walczok et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8aad417677a341144457c7 https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000207

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Implication

Experimental study reveals limited negative effects of judicial generative AI use on perceived integrity in simulated crime victims, highlighting potential for hybrid decision-making.

Would you trust and accept judges using generative artificial intelligence if you became victim of a crime?

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Would you trust and accept judges using generative artificial intelligence if you became victim of a crime?

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

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