Remember When The Worst Thing Computers Did Was Beat Up on Gary Kasparov?

Sure, losing to a computer was humiliating for the chess grandmaster. Flash forward almost a decade, and computers are now being used to hand out death sentences in China.

Criminals in China face being sent to the firing squad by a computer after the introduction of a software programme to help decide the sentences handed out by courts.

Judges are using computers equipped with a sophisticated legal database as an aid to determining punishments for 100 different crimes including robbery and rape by tapping in details of the crime and the mitigating circumstances.

The programme – nicknamed “penalty calculator” - then flashes up its recommended sentence on crimes including murder and stealing state secrets, which are punishable by death by firing squad in the communist nation.

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The death penalty can be given for 68 offences in China, including, bigamy, stealing petrol and tax evasion - and even computer hacking.

More here.

I'm sure some would say HOMELAND SECURITY is already doing this same thing with a DATABASE, too, and so there's nothing untoward going on. I'd beg to differ.