01 Case study · Legal policy · Public data
7,305 crimes, in words anyone can read.
Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's Crime and Punishment is a database of 7,305 crimes across 370 central laws, in everyday language. We built and maintain it. A scraping engine and AI pull out each offence and its punishment and tag each law section, and a manual review step checks the AI output.
- Client
- Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
- Built
- Scraping engine, AI extraction and tagging, manual review
- Engagement
- Built and maintained by Tailwebs
Law text to plain language
Follow one section from law text to plain words.
Pick a real record, then step through the four moves. Each one turns a little more of the law into something a person can read.
- Crimes in the database
- 7,305
- Central laws covered
- 370
- The Advocates Act, 1961, Section 45
The law text Practising in any court or before any authority without being entitled to do so. Penalty for persons illegally practising in courts and before other authorities. Imprisonment MAX: 0.5 YRS
In plain language You cannot act as a lawyer in a court if the law does not entitle you to. The most it can bring is six months in prison.
- The Administrators-General Act, 1963, Section 34(2)
The law text Wilfully omitting to deliver up a revoked certificate without reasonable cause. Surrender of revoked certificate. Fine MAX: INR 1000. Imprisonment MAX: 0.25 YRS
In plain language If your certificate is revoked, you must hand it back. Refusing on purpose, with no good reason, is an offence. The limits are a fine of ₹1,000 and three months in prison.
- The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act, 1985, Section 22
The law text Knowingly furnishing a false return. Penalty for making false reports. Fine MAX: INR 500
In plain language Sending in a report you know is false is an offence. The most the law allows is a fine of ₹500.
The Advocates Act, 1961, Section 45
Practising in any court or before any authority without being entitled to do so. Penalty for persons illegally practising in courts and before other authorities. Imprisonment MAX: 0.5 YRS
Review step: a person checks the extract against the law text.
You cannot act as a lawyer in a court if the law does not entitle you to. The most it can bring is six months in prison.
These three records are illustrations of the pipeline. The law text is copied from crimeandpunishment.in as the site shows it; the highlights, the review line and the plain-language lines are our own illustration, not the site’s published text or a record of review.
03 The moves
What we did, move by move.
- Move 1
Scrape the laws
What we saw The offences sit across 370 central laws, written as legal text.
What we did A scraping engine collects the text of the central laws.
The effect The law text is gathered in one place, ready for the AI step.
- Move 2
AI extraction and tagging
What we saw A section says what is forbidden and how it is punished, but not in a form you can sort or compare.
What we did AI reads each section, pulls out the offence and its punishment, and tags the section.
The effect Offences and punishments become structured data.
- Move 3
Manual review
What we saw AI output on the law needs a human check.
What we did A person checks the AI's output against the law text.
The effect A person has checked the AI output.
- Move 4
Plain-language publishing
What we saw Even a correct extract is a hard read for most people.
What we did Each record is turned into everyday, human-readable language.
The effect Offences and punishments read in everyday language.
04 Results
What the moves added up to.
- −90%manual effortFrom moves 1, 2: Scrape the laws; AI extraction and tagging
- Higherquality, with a person checking the AI outputFrom move 3: Manual review
- Adoptedby statesFrom move 4: Plain-language publishing
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