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11 Info. & Comm. Tech. L. 5 (2002)

handle is hein.journals/infctel11 and id is 1 raw text is: Information & Communication Technology Law, Carfax Publishing Vol. 11, No. 1, 2002 Editorial: Judicial Decision Support Systems as Tools to Transform Justice?' CYRUS TATA2 Centre for Sentencing Research and School of Law, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK Background What can Judicial Decision Support Systems (JDSSs) do for justice? Each of the five refereed articles in this special issue3 sets out an answer. Although all of the articles here are contextualised in particular areas of the justice process, they all share the claim that a JDSS is likely to cause a transformation in the legal justice process. Taken together, the articles advance the claim that a JDSS is an instrument or tool, which acts upon and changes legal processes, making judicial decision making4 more just. The claim is both empirical and normative. These benefits are said to include the following: improved clarity, logic and consistency of decision making, greater openness and transparency of decision making, and greater effectiveness and efficiency in the use and planning of precious re- sources. Later in this editorial, we will return to examine the supposition that IT impacts upon law as a one-way process. I will suggest that this tells barely half of the story. First, however, how do each of the articles set out the claim that JDSSs will transform the justice process in a given area? What follows here is not so much a straightforward summary, but more a commentary about each of the articles so as to highlight the instrumental notion of JDSSs impacting upon and changing legal justice. A commentary on the claims of the articles In his article Using web-based decision support systems to improve access to justice, John Zeleznikow sets out the potential benefits of such systems for the support of the judicial function of administrative decision making, and also the provision of advice to litigants. As well as outlining a system designed to provide advice on property distribution following divorce, his article cogently describes recent work intended to assist Victoria Legal Aid in its determination of legal aid eligibility, each of which 'improve access to justice'. Although Zeleznikow's approach to JDSS is both pragmatic and modest in its immediate goals, he clearly envisages an instrumental role for a JDSS in the delivery of improved justice. Throughout the article he suggests that JDSSs produce four benefits: consistency of decision making, transparency of decision making, increased efficiency, and (through prediction of decisions) avoidance of ISSN 1360-0834 print/ISSN 1469-8404 online/02/010005-09 D 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/1360083022013352 1

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