Reinvent Social Impact: Child Detention is our project focused on an AI-driven study on child detention and family separation that was generated by Baker McKenzie using leading AI technology company SparkBeyond’s AI engine. In its research, we leveraged SparkBeyond to mine the entirety of web data about global child detention. The AI platform revealed a troubling view of cause and consequence.
This project is inspired by and in collaboration with the Global Initiative and Justice with Children, the collection of advocacy and human rights organizations bring to life the World Congress on Justice With Children.
Reinvent Social Impact: Child Detention shows that next-generation AI can shed light on potential solutions to complex societal issues such as child detention and family separation. This research proves that AI can quickly bring a more accurate understanding of cause and consequence to inform policy, public opinion and advocacy on behalf of these children. We will be presenting our findings at this year's World Congress on Justice with Children in November, where we will be inviting those attending to book an appointment with us to further discuss how they can use our research in the future to help them advocate for the rights of child detainees around the world.
SparkBeyond’s AI engine is often used to identify new, largely unnoticed relationships between events. The engine runs over the entire web, searching for recurring patterns that can provide answers to difficult social, technological and business questions. Top findings from this initiative include:
- While the media focuses largely on the immediate tragedy, the long-term consequences of child detention are highly damaging to the children — and costly to society.
- While the stated purpose of child detention is often related to safety, the effect can be to decrease the safety of a community as well as for the child.
- Government officials and agencies should take into account the full range of enduring negative consequences of child detention in many spheres, from mental health to crime and net cost to society.
