The challenge should be seen as an opportunity to improve the justice system, said Stanford Law School professor Nora Freeman Engstrom said: “How often is it that you get to clear the decks and reimagine? How do we harness technology while keeping the focus on maximizing our key objectives: participation, transparency, equity, and accessibility? To make it as good as it was before isn’t good enough.”
In California, "Cases concerning children and their families are moving faster and helping clear backlogs," and "In rural states, remote court has the benefit of reducing travel time that can add up when courthouses are far away," the reporters note. "People who work in North Dakota oil fields no longer need to lose a day of work to attend a half-hour court appearance."
In California, "Cases concerning children and their families are moving faster and helping clear backlogs," and "In rural states, remote court has the benefit of reducing travel time that can add up when courthouses are far away," the reporters note. "People who work in North Dakota oil fields no longer need to lose a day of work to attend a half-hour court appearance."
But the Federal Communications Commission estimates that 14.5 million Americans "still don’t have access to broadband internet, though an organization that independently reviewed FCC data estimated the number is roughly 42 million," Spoto and Alder note. "About a quarter of adults with household incomes below $30,000 a year reported not owning a smartphone in a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. And around four in 10 with lower incomes said they didn’t have a desktop or laptop."
Judges and legal-aid groups are using technology kiosks, loaner tablets, and “justice buses” to bridge the digital divide, Spoto and Alder report: "Minnesota and Texas are among states creating or planning to create spaces stocked with tech and internet in libraries and other public places. . . . Mobile clinic vans, often stocked with wi-fi, computers, and pro bono lawyers, drive to some rural areas with poor internet access to help residents log into court hearings and obtain legal information, Legal Services Corp. program analyst for technology Jane Ribadeneyra said. These 'justice buses' roll through states such as New York, Ohio, and California."
But, but: "Iowa Legal Aid litigation director Alex Kornya cautioned against 'breathless utopianism' about court technology. Even where video is an option, it may be harder to empathize with defendants in virtual courts. 'There is something about looking someone in the eye when you are going to deny something that is very important,' Kornya said. 'Not having to do that makes it easier to say no.'"
Judges and legal-aid groups are using technology kiosks, loaner tablets, and “justice buses” to bridge the digital divide, Spoto and Alder report: "Minnesota and Texas are among states creating or planning to create spaces stocked with tech and internet in libraries and other public places. . . . Mobile clinic vans, often stocked with wi-fi, computers, and pro bono lawyers, drive to some rural areas with poor internet access to help residents log into court hearings and obtain legal information, Legal Services Corp. program analyst for technology Jane Ribadeneyra said. These 'justice buses' roll through states such as New York, Ohio, and California."
But, but: "Iowa Legal Aid litigation director Alex Kornya cautioned against 'breathless utopianism' about court technology. Even where video is an option, it may be harder to empathize with defendants in virtual courts. 'There is something about looking someone in the eye when you are going to deny something that is very important,' Kornya said. 'Not having to do that makes it easier to say no.'"
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