2 The Data Revolution in Justice 19

# **2 The Data Revolution in Justice**

Recent years have witnessed an increase of data availability in judicial systems around the world. Many countries have developed electronic case management and e-filing systems. This has led to the creation of massive databases that track every characteristic of each case. In fact, this is by definition an element of the fair administration of justice: everything that happens in a case needs to be tracked to demonstrate the evidence behind facts-based decisions. Even though this data is readily available to policy makers, it has rarely been exploited to evaluate policies or improve the functioning of the judiciary.

The underutilization of data raises many questions: What if we could harness its power to understand what sectors of the population lack access to justice? Taking it one step further, what if we could use the text of decisions to reduce judicial biases, to revamp justice systems that unfairly target gender and racial minorities? What if we could use high-frequency data to understand and address why cases get backlogged, thereby removing a main barrier to justice in the developing world? In the era of COVID-19, what if we could use high-frequency data to predict the future congestion of courts, and plan ahead to be prepared for what is yet to come? Ultimately, what if we could use data to assess the specific impact of new laws on individuals and firms, and promote best practices among different countries?

By responding to these questions, the data revolution can help the rule of law reclaim its role in development planning. More importantly, by using data more effectively, judiciaries around the world, and particularly those in developing countries, will be able to improve their performance, address deficits in the quality and accessibility of justice, and contribute to prosperity. In this section, we explore the opportunities that arise from the expanded data systems in justice. We discuss how data can help assess social prejudice and integrity in justice systems in ways that have not been possible until recently. As COVID-19 moves justice into virtual courtrooms and greater electronic processing of cases, this section assesses the opportunities that arise to evaluate and improve crucial aspects of the efficiency, quality and integrity of courts.

# **2.A The Expansion of Data Availability**

Judiciaries generate vast amounts of data on a daily basis. Historically, this data has been collected in paper form. Judicial data has rarely been analyzed quantitatively, and little information has been extracted from the overall patterns of the data. According to the literature, the reasons are twofold: first, judicial officers have historically not been concerned with performance indicators; and second, legal scholars have prioritized qualitative over quantitative analysis of the functioning of the judiciary (Dakolias, 1999). However, this trend has been changing in recent times. Judiciaries around the world are establishing e-filing and case management systems where every aspect of each case is recorded. Others have also established electronic calendars, electronic notification systems, electronic jurisprudence, virtual courts, and other technological platforms that facilitate the efficient functioning of the judiciary. These technologies, particularly case management systems, tend to generate vast amounts of data that can be utilized to evaluate the functioning of the court. Moreover, as large backlogs of cases becomes a significant problem for the efficiency of the judiciary in developing countries, interest is growing around performance metrics that will improve the functioning of the judiciary. The expansion of data availability in judiciaries around the world creates valuable opportunities to measure the overall performance of the judiciary, identify key areas for improvement and evaluate the impact of justice reforms.

The adoption of technological platforms that generate judicial data has affected both developed and developing countries. The United States, Canada, European countries, and Australia are at the