Tattoo recognition technology (TRT) is an emerging field in technology that saves images of tattoos in a database, allowing law enforcement to identify perpetrators based on their body art.
As useful as this technology can be, Samuel Hodge, published in Northern Illinois University Law Review, notes that use of TRT is not without controversy, and reviews the legal implications of the technology in his research. Hodge notes that a major challenge with TRT is implicating innocent individuals in crime simply because they had a similar tattoo as the perpetrator.
Critics of TRT have argued that this false identification disproportionately affects the Black community. Hodge urges lawmakers to provide individuals with ample resources to protect themselves from such misidentification.