Toward Equal Access to Justice for All

Target 16:3 of the Sustainable Development Goals is remarkable not just in the pursuit to promote access to justice for all, but that this access must also be equal across populations. Striving toward universal access to justice, a pillar of the rule of law, therefore requires flexible implementation, capable of evolving. At the same time, one of the most critical aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) is its ability to produce non-arbitrary outcomes. This chapter therefore suggests that AI-based tools may be just one additional tool available to practitioners for streamlining criminal justice processes in overburdened legal systems without sacrificing the role of the human decision-maker. Used properly, such tools may help to assess and order relevant information and to promote the efficient management of unwieldy caseloads that can otherwise cripple the administration of justice through lengthy delays which limit access to justice and undercut legal certainty. In digitizing resources for both court staff and defendants and their families, wider, more affordable access to justice may be achieved. This is particularly important for individuals in pretrial detention whose disadvantaged status is further exacerbated by delays, causing ripple effects across communities’ access to education, healthcare, and well-being. Ultimately the intervention argues that the careful implementation of AI tools to support administrative court processes will lessen delays for all defendants, benefiting most acutely those who suffer as a result of extended pretrial detention due to administrative delays. In so doing, these tools may not only increase access to timely justice, but by strengthening communities’ rule of law standards, the implementation of additional Goals may be strengthened and better achieved.