Modern Technology in Judicial Systems: A Critical Analysis Paper Example

Introduction

The literature review is based on the critical analysis of the important sources that provide comprehensive information on the efficacy and importance of applying modern technological concepts in the judicial systems. Information Technology (IT) is used in the administration of electronic justice for various practices like management of cases, maintenance of courtroom technology, communication, and access to essential judicial services through the online platform. The critical analysis of the literature provides insightful information on the importance of electronic justice the African judicial systems. Computer System Analysts (CSA) have applied multiple efforts but the strategies for achieving digitalized judicial services in the African continent are still lacking (Maseh, 2015). The digitization of most of the judicial services and processes requires the participation of the main stakeholders like judicial and legal practitioners, Computer System Analysts, and citizens residents of the involved community.

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According to Maseh (2015), the Computer System Analysts support other stakeholders in the collection of and translation of their needs based on the established standards. The Africa Court of Justice and People's Rights (2015) necessitates for the need to develop effective strategies that help in digitization of the court activities to enhance the delivery of justice in accordance to the assessment of the recommendations made by the members of African Union (AU). Electronic justice is important because it ensures streamlined case flow, enhanced productivity, improved quality of judicial services, and improved consistency.

The Organization of the Literature Review and the Search Strategy

The organization of the review is based on the nature of the research conducted to collect and analyze the information on how technological advancements improve the court processes in the African Judicial Systems. The organization of the review contains a brief discussion of the literature materials related to digitization of the court processes in Africa. The literature review also includes the problems and approaches used in digitization activities. TQM is the conceptual framework applied in the research practices to achieve quality processes in digitalizing court services and attain the desired themes. The organization of the literature also use different case studies in the development of appropriate research design.

The literature review process in the qualitative case scenario involved the location and selection of relevant research materials from multiple sources. The search strategy involved the sources that include Google scholar, ProQuest Central, Walden University Library, Science Direct, and EBSCOhost. The primary sources of this research are peer-reviewed materials and dissertations. The peer-reviewed articles were used to verify. The reviewed articles include 60 articles, in which 90% are peer-reviewed. 90% of the peer-reviewed articles are within 5 years of publication. The search strategy also involves the approaches used in the digitization of the African regional and sub-regional judicial processes. The keywords in searching the relevant articles from the identified sources include e-justice, court procedures, Computer System Analysts strategies, courtroom technology, digitization, e-court, computerization, court procedures, total quality management, case management systems, and electronic filing. Those peer-reviewed articles published within five years are analyzed because they contain the relevant and updated information on the judicial matters in Africa. The African Court on Human and People's Rights (2015) recommends for the application of the CSA strategies in the integration of the technological measures in delivering judicial services in Africa.

Application of the Applied IT Problem

The purpose of the qualitative study is to analyze the strategies applied by the Computer System Analysts (CSA) in the digitization of the court process in the African regional and sub-regional levels. The selected population of the research includes the Computer System Analysts from two regional and three sub-regional courts in the African continent. The research activity also provides reliable and practical strategies used in improving the digitization of the court processes in African judicial systems (Maseh, 2015). The research contributes to the promotion of good governance, rule of law, and transparency through enhanced delivery and access to justice.

Critical Analysis of the Applied Conceptual Framework in the Research Case Studies

Total Quality Management (TQM) is the appropriate conceptual framework applied in the qualitative research study. The concept of quality improvement emerged in Japan after the end of World War II (Lantos & Spertus, 2014). The framework originated from Edwards Demings through the application of his 14 predetermined principles in quality improvement. TQM framework involves the application of the approach that emphasizes on customer satisfaction depending on the continuous improvement concepts and the participation of all stakeholders in the organization. The aim of the framework is to improve the quality of the judicial services delivered to African people, promotion of outcomes, and the services that affect other customers' satisfaction. The main components of the TQM include leadership, teamwork, training, customer satisfaction and focus, communication, commitment to top management, product design, continuous improvement, and employee involvement. The tasks assigned to the Computer System Analysts focus on attaining significant knowledge on the enterprise information system (IS) (Lantos & Spertus, 2014). The CSA strategies also help in enabling an in-depth understanding of the court processes and the importance of involving all stakeholders in the judicial issues.

The understanding of the processes relates with the continuous improvement, process management, product design, and training on the operations of the TQM, continuous improvement, and teamwork (Mohammed, Ahmed & Anantharaman, 2017). The development of the significant IS knowledge empowers people to ensure promote teamwork with the selected groups and improve process management and product design in order to ensure continuous improvement in the judicial systems especially in e-justice. The CSA expertise in designing and determining the needs of the stakeholders depending on the alignment of the software development in order to achieve customer satisfaction, employee improvement, teamwork, TQM communication, process management, and product design (Morse, Lowery & Steury, 2014). The satisfaction of the customers is important in ensuring the commitment of the stakeholders towards achieving a designed e-justice. TQM is an important framework for the research since the CSA is assigned to digitalize the pre-determined court processes and ensure alignment with the components of quality improvement approach (Mohammed, Ahmed & Anantharaman, 2017). The TQM framework also helps in identifying appropriate strategies in the digitization of court processes in African regional and sub-regional judicial systems.

The Critical Evaluation of the Themes

The main themes in the study focus on the information that relates to the court administration and provision of justice in the Regional and sub-regional levels of Africa. The approaches and challenges in the digitization of court processes also form the main themes in the research (Morse, Lowery & Steury, 2014). the integration of technology in the management of cases and how the digitization of the court systems promote transparency, efficiency, rule of law, access to justice, and good governance; therefore reducing corruption judicial systems in African regional and sub-regional courts (Lantos & Spertus, 2014). Other important themes included in the study include, standardization, IT literacy, structural and organizational constraints, policy, electric power, infrastructure, and security based on the existing court processes.

Comparison of the Research Findings

The study involved 5 participants in the research who are active members of the African Court of Human Rights, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). The application of the Information Technology is appropriate in sub-regional judicial systems due to the small geographical area; therefore, ensuring effective management and delivery of justice to people living in the member states (Alhassan, Alzahrani & AbdulAziz, 2017). The application of the e-justice system in the East African sub-region is appropriate as compared to the African Court of Human Rights due to differences in the geographical location variance and size of the sample population selected in the study. Corruption affects the nature of research findings on the regional level because quality judicial procedures and transparency are not achieved as a result of the limitations from geographical variance. The analysis of data collected from the research on the African regional level provides different analytical results as compared to the analysis of information from the sub-regional level.

Transition and Summary

The digitization of court processes influences the ability to handle the challenges that arise from case backlogs. Some of the countries that have achieved complete digitization of court processes include United States of America, Kenya, India, and Malaysia. The digitization of the court processes provides multiple benefits that include the potential to resolve issues resulting from the inability to access justice and eliminate case backlogs. The identification and incorporation of the appropriate CSA strategies are important in achieving quality improvement based on the TQM conceptual framework.

References

African Court on Human and Peoples Rights. (2015). Final Communique / Outcomes of the 2 African Judicial Dialogue on the Theme "Connecting National and International Justice," 2(November), 1-7. Retrieved from http://en.african-court.org/images/Other%20Reports/20151113_-_Final_Outcome_Statement_2nd_African_Judicial_Dialogue_CLEAN.pdf.

Alhassan, A., Alzahrani, W., & AbdulAziz, A. (2017). Total Quality Management for Software Development. Proceedings of the IEEE 1991 National Aerospace and Electronics Conference NAECON 1991, 158(5), 38-44. https://doi.org/10.5120/ijca2017912850.

Lantos, J. D., & Spertus, J. A. (2014). The Concept of Risk in Comparative-Effectiveness Research. New England Journal of Medicine, 371(22), 2129-2130. doi:10.1056/nejmhle1413301

Maseh, E. (2015). Managing Court Records. Arch. & Inf. Sc (Vol. 25). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/central/docview/1861783598/fulltextPDF/6B1B19D48E784727PQ/33?accountid=14872.

Mohammed, M., Ahmed, E. M., & Anantharaman, R. N. (2017). The effect of TQM intention to implement on work performance in Oman's Ministry of Justice. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management, and Sustainable Development, 13(3), 223-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/wjemsd-04-2016-0020.

Morse, W. C., Lowery, D. R., & Steury, T. (2014). Exploring Saturation of Themes and Spatial Locations in Qualitative Public Participation Geographic Information Systems Research. Society & Natural Resources, 27(5), 557-571. doi:10.1080/08941920.2014.888791.