Electronic Case Filing can be a very substantial tool to advance democracy. It is cost effective and runs on laptops.
(I read "Netroots Platform: Civil and Human Rights by Chacounne 8/14/08, too late to respond. I am sorry that I have been slow to pick up on the complexities of Daily Kos and so distracted. This diary is meant to respond to the Access to Courts mandate in the platform)
Real Access to Court requires just that --access. ECF is computerized access and it is great. It should be universally available to all citizens and businesses.
Electronic Case Filing are the formal words for the U.S. Government U.S. Judiciary computerized case filings systems. ECF in various forms is now implemented in all federal district and appellate courts. The litigant gets a free account number and password. They log on and use a drop down menu to upload any form of legal filing. The on-line fill-in forms require the litigant to label every document and suggest the titles of appropriate documents. All that is needed is an account and internet access. There is now ECF in both criminal and civil. You can upload both formed pdfs and scans. Appellate court records are being built on them. The judges can copy from the litigant pdfs directly into their own documents.
I think there should be an ACCESS TO COURTS PEACE CORPS, a government program, and that multi-disciplinary teams should develop ECF for all courts everywhere. We should be going into Iraq, Darfur, and everywhere else and passing out laptops showing citizens and businesses how they can upload their files to court. This could help businesses get organized also, promoting economic development, in addition to facilitating the processing of civil complaints and ensuring that due process is used in all matters. The programs should be translated into the various languages and contain links to local laws. This should be implemented at even basic government levels so that people can complain effectively about issues involving trash, roads, zoning, and other infrastructure. If zoning regulations can be fairly established and implemented, then their won't be fighting over yards and meters. And if there isn't fighting over yards and meters there won't be war. If there is war, fewer women will be raped if everyone knows they have ACCESS TO COURT. Access to courts is our shield.
ACCESS TO COURTS is an explicit part of the guarantees of the United Nations, endorsed by over 185 countries including the United States. Justice demands universal expanded ECF technology be made available everywhere now. The reason this wasn't done before was not that it was not a good idea, but that the technology and Internet wasn't there. Now the technology and Internet is here.
The core group of ECF designers is apparently located in Southern California. Each court has its own. The District of Minnesota has very good ECF and makes it available to all users. However, you cannot even view the drop down menus if you don't have an account and you can't get an account if you aren't involved with a lawsuit. There should be someway to go from court to court comparing the system designs.
Please help improve ACCESS TO COURTS thru ECF.
What do you think of an ACCESS TO COURTS PEACE CORPS?
The "access to courts" "peace corps" idea could be a jump start. It is needed both nationally and internationally. The staff should include systems analysts, translators, lawyers, magistrates etc. They could go into an area and set up a law library with computers. They would have to convince the locals to use the system. That would be push -pull persuasion right? If citizens can link into legal web sites in other regions and countries, the citizens will be emboldened to demand the same rights they see other citizens securing. At the same time, local powers will hopefully be convinced that they should participate in modernizing the courts. There would be opportunities at international educational seminars.
All citizens everywhere at some level really do want a non corrupt system because it is safer and offers a better economy. With the revelations of so many corruption scandals, this is a good time for a good government/ good court thru good computers message. This is a positive message.
ACCESS TO COURTS PEACE CORPS would also promote literacy and therefore democracy. If prisoners have laptops and are encouraged to intellectualize they might experience transformation. It might actually reduce real crime. High school students could be taught legal principles and pleading and that could help them if they are in the military and in advocating their interests throughout life.