Brazil: Computer to act as judge

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TB2K spinoff uncensored : One Thread

Brazil: Computer to act as Judge.

A group of Brazilian magistrates is testing out a new informatics program called the "Electronic Judge" which, according to its designers, is able to process concrete data about an infraction or felony(?), and immediately propose a suitable punishment. The system has also been re-baptized as "Instant Justice".

According to the designers, the main objective of the program is to "assist the human judge in imparting justice in a rapid and methodical way, based on witness statements, forensic evidence, and other fundamentals of the process". After processing these data, the "Electronic Judge" is able to set fines, order indemnities, and even recommend suitable jail sentences.

The program is currently being tested in the Brazilean state of Espirito Santo as part of a project intended to alleviate the current processing overload on the Brazilean judicial system.

Those responsible for the initiative indicate that the peculiar "Instant Justice" method does not aspire to substitute the job performed by judges, but rather to accelerate their work. In this sense, they highlight the fact that the informatics system is only able to process logical questions, totally lacking in subjective content, and requiring only simple "yes" or "no" answers such as, "Was the measured blood alcohol level of the driver higher than the legally established limit?"

The final safety mechanism provided by the creators of the program is that all decisions made by the "Electronic Judge" can be annulled or overridden by a human judge.

-- viewer (justp@ssing.by), April 28, 2000


Moderation questions? read the FAQ