Criminal Justice Policy Analyst

Mehek K. Saini

Mehek Saini is a high school student at Independence High School in Texas. She is a self-acclaimed philosopher, huge history nerd and aspiring polyglot. At YIP, she serves as a Criminal Justice Policy Analyst and is empowered to make legal complexities clear for young Americans.

Mehek Saini is a high school student from Texas with experience in journalism, healthcare policy, bioethics and international diplomacy. Here at YIP she serves as a Criminal Justice Policy Analyst and is driven to make the legalities of the justice system more transparent to the American youth. Outside of YIP, she is involved in research regarding the bioethics and biology behind fertility-enhancing technologies. She runs her own foreign affairs blog and is a regular speaker at TedX events, and is also an experienced Model UN delegate and dias. She has also founded her own philosophy organization and has developed an innovative ed-tech startup as well. In her free time, you can find Mehek drawing, overconsuming global relations content, or making coffee.

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All articles by the author

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Policy Briefs by the author

Pretextual Traffic Stops

Criminal Justice

February 28, 2026

Pretextual traffic stops, in which an officer uses a minor traffic violation as a legal reason to stop a vehicle and investigate unrelated crimes, are a common but controversial policing practice in the United States. Studies have shown that these stops often fall more heavily on minority drivers and rarely uncover serious offenses, raising concerns about fairness, public trust, and whether they use police time effectively. This policy brief analyzes how law enforcement uses pretextual stops, the legal rules governing them, and research on their impact on public safety and community relations. As a whole, this brief aims to outline the use of pretextual traffic stops in the current context and to provide practical recommendations to protect civil rights.

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Regulating Generative AI in Criminal Courts

Criminal Justice

February 8, 2026

This policy brief analyzes the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in increasing the efficiency of the current justice system. While examining previous attempts at AI use and its now widespread adoption in the field of criminal justice, this paper evaluates areas of success as well as adverse effects. Although it has been suggested that AI can streamline administrative processes and reduce space for human error, it has the capacity to further augment pre-existing inequities within the criminal justice system. The analysis conducted considers thatAI is yet to harness the trust of the general public and that this technology’s “fairness” can be ambiguous. In response to these concerns and in an attempt to maximize AI benefits, this policy brief emphasizes on the need to establish supervised and open-source AI systems. Human oversight should be considered fundamental in this process, as should education. As a whole, this brief aims to outline the complexities involved with examining the fruitfulness of AI in criminal justice and suggest remedies to its challenges.

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