Fair justice systems need open data access
Making court records publicly available will enable statistical analysis


Date:
July 9, 2020
Source:
Northwestern University
Summary:
Researchers are developing an A.I. platform that provides users
with access to the information and insights hidden inside federal
court records, regardless of their data and analytic skills.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Although U.S. court documents are publicly available online, they sit
behind expensive paywalls inside a difficult-to-navigate database.


==========================================================================
A Northwestern University-led team says these barriers prevent the
transparency needed to establish a fair and equal justice system. Making
all court records open and available will allow researchers to
systematically study and evaluate the U.S. justice system, yielding
information with potential to direct policy.

"In principle, litigation is supposed to be open to the public," said Northwestern data scientist Lui's A. Nunes Amaral. "In reality, the
lack of access to court records seemingly undercuts any claim that the
courts are truly 'open.'" The new insights will be published on Friday,
July 10 in the journal Science.

Amaral is the corresponding author of the paper. His co-authors include computer and data scientists, legal scholars, journalists and policy
experts.

Northwestern artificial intelligence (A.I) researcher Kristian Hammond
and the C3 Lab are developing an A.I. platform that provides users
with access to the information and insights hidden inside federal court records, regardless of their data and analytic skills.

"The problem with court data is the same problem with a lot of datasets," Hammond said. "The data cost money, and the technical skills to use them
cost money. That means very few people have access -- not just to the
data -- but the information that we all need that's hidden inside of it."
With this tool, the researchers can link courtroom data to other public
data to explore questions such as: How do different judges affect the
outcomes of similar cases? Does it make a difference to be defended by
a big law firm compared to a smaller one? And how many cases settle?


==========================================================================
"We really can ask the broadest questions," Amaral said. "The ultimate
goal is to ask if the court system is acting fairly." Amaral is the
Erastus Otis Haven Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering in Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and the director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems. Hammond is the Bill and Cathy
Osborn Professor of Computer Science at McCormick and the director of Northwestern's Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence program.

Northwestern co-authors include data scientist Adam Pah from the Kellogg
School of Management; legal scholars David Schwartz, Sarath Sanga,
Zachary Clopton and Peter DiCola from the Northwestern Pritzker School
of Law and journalism researcher Rachel Davis Mersey from the Medill
School of Journalism.

Evaluating access to justice To help quantify and evaluate
citizens' access to justice, the researchers examined judicial waiver decisions. Anyone who files a lawsuit in a federal court must pay a $400
filing fee, which is unaffordable for many Americans. To waive these
fees, litigants can file an application. Because there is no uniform
standard to reviewing these requests, the Northwestern team found judges' decisions varied widely. In one federal district alone, judges approved
waivers anywhere from less than 20% to more than 80% of the time.



==========================================================================
"If all judges reviewed fee waiver applications under the same standard,
then grant rates should not systematically differ within districts,"
the authors wrote. "We find, however, that they do." The research
team believes these types of variations can be fixed if the public
can access and analyze court records, in order to give the justice
system quantitative feedback. To do this, the researchers recommend a three-pronged approach:
1. Make court records free to dismantle the barrier to access;
2. Link courtroom data to external data -- such as information
on judges, litigants and lawyers -- to build a collaborative
knowledge network; 3. Empower the public by providing access to the
information that flows from the analysis of the federal court data.

Transforming study and journalistic coverage To help with this approach,
the researchers are developing SCALES-OKN (Systematic Content Analysis
of Litigation Events Open Knowledge Network), an A.I.-powered platform
that makes the federal courtroom data and insights available to the
public. The team believes the tool has potential to transform the ways academics, scientists and researchers approach legal study, as well as
how journalists cover the justice system.

"Our ability to understand and improve the law -- everything from
employment discrimination to intellectual property to securities
regulation -- depends critically on our ability to access legal data,"
said Sanga, an associate professor at Northwestern Law. "By opening up
court records, SCALES will finally enable researchers to systematically
examine the court system and the practice of law. Social scientists will
use this resource in much the same way that they use the U.S. Census. It
will provide both a detailed and big picture view of the process by which litigants navigate the justice system, as well as the process by which
judges administer justice." "SCALES will transform the way journalists
are able to cover the American justice system," said Mersey, associate
dean of research at Medill. "The interface will allow reporters, both
with and without data analytics skills, to quickly and easily access
judicial information and court records to cover uses of social justice,
equity and due process. At a time when media organizations have trimmed newsroom staffs and decreased the amount of money that can be spent
gathering information, SCALES will prove to be a powerful partner in
ensuring the justice systems operates in an open and accessible way."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Northwestern_University. Original
written by Amanda Morris. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Adam R. Pah, David L. Schwartz, Sarath Sanga, Zachary D. Clopton,
Peter
Dicola, Rachel Davis Mersey, Charlotte S. Alexander, Kristian
J. Hammond, Lui's A. Nunes Amaral. How to build a more open justice
system. Science, 2020 DOI: 10.1126/science.aba6914 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200709141614.htm

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