Our justice system is overwhelmed with trillions of hours of video footage captured via surveillance, body and dashboard cameras, witness interrogations, and more each day. This video evidence is involved in over 80% of criminal cases. However, it is often overlooked due in part to the lack of tools to analyze it. While it may not be the most attractive market within the legal space, there are approximately 1,400 public defender offices in the US alone with more than 16,000 lawyers who could use more technology-driven solutions to analyze video and audio evidence.
This is where JusticeText comes in. JusticeText has developed a web-based evidence management software that employs a speech-to-text machine learning algorithm to generate an interactive and searchable transcript of video and audio evidence automatically. Here’s a look at how the startup is making an impact in the legal services market, starting with public defender offices.
The Nuts & Bolts
Problem: The use of video evidence in criminal cases (from cell phones, body cameras, interrogations, depositions, traffic cameras, etc.) has become ubiquitous, with Justice Text believing that its use will accelerate after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Additionally, public defender offices need all the help they can get. They are often overworked, understaffed, and many lack fluency with or access to technology tools. For example, Missouri had a total of 90,000 cases for a few hundred public defenders in 2019, a trend that is playing out nationwide.
Solution: JusticeText is strengthening the ability of public defenders and legal experts in the private litigation space to analyze crucial video and audio data with its evidence management software. Features such as speaker recognition, timestamped notes, multi-language support, accuracy heat maps, and the ability to export content in a variety of formats help expedite the pre-trial preparation experience.
Getting to Know JusticeText
We met the JusticeText co-founders during our open office hours. JusticeText’s CEO Devshi Mehrotra leads product and has interned at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and DeepMind. JusticeText’s CTO Leslie Jones-Dove leads tech and interned at Google and JP Morgan
Despite being young, the co-founders have experienced what it’s like to work at top tech companies. They met in a class at the University of Chicago and have been able to build, maintain, and iterate upon JusticeText while being physically distant. After wrapping up at the University of Chicago, Devshi spent time in Beijing at Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar while Leslie stayed in Chicago.
Recently featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 2021, the JusticeText team is technically strong and aligned on their mission. They have an advisor on the team with experience in the public defender and legal space, and have built out a part-time team that helps with engineering and product.
Racial justice and the UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: Building effective, accountable institutions at all levels) is at the core of the company’s mission. The team views the integration of ESG as an opportunity to identify opportunities and risks for all of their activities.
Why Now?
According to a Grand View Research report, the legal services space represents a $700 billion market, and there is still room for technology to upgrade inefficient and outdated practices. Recent events, such as the murder of George Floyd, have also highlighted the need for solutions like JusticeText. As the prevalence of video evidence rises, legal firms are facing a lack of resources to analyze this surge in data. JusticeText is well-positioned to benefit from the shifts taking place at the intersection of law enforcement and criminal justice within the U.S., and potentially, around the world.
Future of JusticeText
JusticeText is currently focused on the public defender sector of the legal market. However, as the company builds momentum, there is potential for the product to see demand within other facets of the legal and law enforcement communities and we are thrilled to support them on their mission.
If you would like to learn more about companies, sectors, and trends that we are excited about, as well as receive invitations to exclusive previews and expert roundtables, please sign up here.
You can learn more about JusticeText at https://justicetext.com.
Legal Disclaimers: 500 Startups programs (including accelerator programs), investor education services, strategic partnership consulting services and events are operated by 500 Startups Incubator, L.L.C. (together with its affiliates, “500 Startups”) and the funds advised by 500 Startups Management Company, L.L.C. do not participate in any revenue generated by these activities. Such programs and services are provided for educational and informational purposes only and under no circumstances should any content provided as part of any such programs, services or events be construed as investment, legal, tax or accounting advice by 500 startups or any of its affiliates.
The views expressed here are those of the individual 500 Startups personnel, or other individuals quoted and are not the views of 500 Startups or its affiliates. Certain information contained herein may have been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by 500 Startups. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, 500 Startups has not independently verified such information and makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of the information in this post or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements or links; 500 Startups has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, tax or accounting advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation, offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any investment securities, or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by 500 Startups. (An offering to invest in an 500 Startups fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by 500 Startups, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results.
Charts and graphs provided herein are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Unless otherwise expressly stated, figures are based on internal estimates and have not been independently verified. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. All logos and trademarks of third parties referenced herein are the logos and trademarks of their respective owners and any inclusion of such trademarks or logos does not imply or constitute any approval, endorsement or sponsorship of 500 Startups by such owners.
Please see Section 2 of our Terms of Use for additional important information.
