WASHINGTON STATE ACCESS TO JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY PRINCIPLES: A PERSPECTIVE FOR JUSTICE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS, THE

Justice System Journal, 2006 by Zorza, Richard, Horowitz, Donald J

This article, based in part on prior articles by the authors in Symposium: Technology, Values, and the Justice System (2004), discusses the need for, potential, development process, and early implementation stages of the Washington State Access to Justice Technology Principles, which were adopted by order of the Washington State Supreme Court and which now guide the use of technology in the Washington State justice system. The purpose of the Principles is to ensure that "[u]se of technology in the justice system . . . serve[s] to promote equal access to justice and to promote the opportunity for equal participation in the justice system for all. " This article discusses the specifics of the Principles and their implications, the problems and issues that emerged during the drafting and adoption process, and the current state of implementation. The article is written with a particular focus on the needs and perspectives of justice system professionals and emphasizes the values of and need for cooperation and collaboration in the adoption and implementation process.

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On December 3, 2004, the Washington State Supreme Court entered an order adopting the Washington State Access to Justice Principles (http://www. lawhelp.org/documents/273851English.pdf?stateabbrev=/WA/). The Principles were the product of more than three years of consultation, analysis, research, deliberation, and negotiation. They represent the first time that a written set of principles governing the relationship between technology use, development and innovation, and access to justice has been given judicial authority by a state's highest court.

This article discusses the history and substance of these Principles and discusses the value of the Access to Justice (ATJ ) Technology Principles approach for justice system professionals (for other perspectives on the Principles, see Symposium, 2004). The Principles permit the balancing of competing demands from those who advocate open access to the courts with those who demand cost-effective administration. They provide an analytic structure and political consensus about the fundamental and applicable values regarding technology and courts to help guide decision making.

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPLES

There is now consensus about the important impact of technology on the legal system's accessibility, operations, budgeting, and management (Katsh, 1995, 1989). Over the last forty years, the use of certain technologies within the justice system has become routine and required. Case tracking, electronic billing, telephone hearings, video depositions, courtroom reconstructions, and similar innovations have become accepted practices, and the system would grind far more slowly without them (Webster, 1996).

However, in the last few years the Internet and other new information and communication technologies have resulted in a far more radical increase in the pace of innovation. New tools, including informational Web pages, online document assembly, electronic filing, interactive interviews and forms, live video arraignments, courthouse security systems, public access to court records, and public broadcast of court proceedings, have transformed traditional court practices. Such innovations offer an opportunity for the justice system and its users to better communicate. They provide a richer decision-making environment and offer greater access to the system.

Technological innovations also present the risk of reducing effective access for some or all. Innovations may require a capacity to access the system that some do not have-whether the capacity is financial, educational, technological, physical or mental, or geographical. When these access limitations outweigh the benefits of the technology, it defeats the goal of creating greater access to courts through the use of technology. Examples are deploying required interfaces or software in justice institutions that cannot be used by certain individuals because of a lack of capability or technical capacity; using communications systems that inhibit comprehensive gathering of information by the judicial or other decision maker; and using technologies that another party is unable to employ. More generally, there is a risk that the overall system will become skewed in the direction of certain kinds of information and that the apparent "certainty" of technologically provided information will inappropriately drive results.

The innovations described above are already being deployed, or their penetration into the system is unstoppable. The judicial system needs a way to balance the benefits of these technologies with any effect they may have on access to courts. That is the purpose of the Principles as they have been adopted by the Washington State Supreme Court.

Process and History. The concept behind the Access to Justice Technology Principles was first expressed by King County, Washington, law librarian Jean Holcomb in the Washington State Bar News. She proposed an "Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights," and her idea became a project of the Washington State Access to Justice Board, an organization created by Order of the Washington State Supreme Court in 1994. Responsibility for this particular effort-The Access to Justice Technology Bill of Rights (ATJTBoR) Committee-was assigned to former superior court judge Donald J Horowitz. The committee developed processes and products to maintain a focus on the overall goals.

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WASHINGTON STATE ACCESS TO JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY PRINCIPLES: A PERSPECTIVE FOR JUSTICE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS, THE

Justice System Journal, 2006 by Zorza, Richard, Horowitz, Donald J

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