Digital Investigations of Systematic and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Practice and Possibilities

This article discusses a new guide that has been developed to support the responsible use of digital open-source information to investigate systematic and conflict-related sexual violence (SCRSV). Drafted by the Institute for International Criminal Investigations and the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law, the just-published pilot version of the Open-Source Practitioner’s Guide to the Murad Code aims to minimize the risks and maximize the potential for digital investigations into SCRSV.  Part I of this article opens with a brief history of accountability for SCRSV, touching on the need to strengthen SCRSV investigations and providing a brief introduction to existing ethical guidelines. That is followed by a short history of digital open source investigations. Part II brings those histories together, touching on the various roles that digital investigations are beginning to play in the investigation and prosecution of SCRSV, acknowledging challenges to integrating digital methods into investigations, offering suggestions for resolving those challenges, and summarizing the guide’s relevant content. Part III looks to the future, exploring the potential for both tech-assisted and machine-led processes to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of SCRSV. The article concludes with some thoughts on how emerging digital technologies, and especially machine learning-based research methods, may prove useful to future accountability for SCRSV crimes.