Technology and Court Administration in the Twenty-First Century: Hurtling Toward?

摘要

This article begins from the position that technology is a human creation used to help achieve desirable ends. Therefore, to understand technology's impact on court administration (defined as case processing support to judicial decision-making), the ends or values to be realized in court operation must first be specified. Seven case deciding values (impartiality, finality, public participation and oversight, accurately declaring and applying the law, protecting individual rights, being fair and equitable in decisions, and preserving/strengthening political community) are identified along with seven case support values (access, accurate information, equality of treatment, protection of privacy, high quality of operation, efficiency, and accountability). Using this values framework, specific technological options and their possible impacts are analyzed in terms of both the direct and indirect case processing support provided by court administration. In the area of direct case processing support, the approach taken is to follow the flow of a case from the point of thinking about beginning legal action through post-trial proceedings. In the area of indirect case processing support, the focus is on technology's impact on court organizational design and management.