Observing the Effects of Automating the Judicial System with Behavioral Equivalence

60 Pages Posted: 28 May 2021 Last revised: 27 Aug 2021

See all articles by Joseph Blass

Joseph Blass

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law; Northwestern University - Dept. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Date Written: May 25, 2021

Abstract

Building on decades of work in Artificial Intelligence, legal scholars have begun to consider whether components of the judicial system could be replaced by computers. Much of the scholarship in AI and Law has focused on whether such automated systems could reproduce the reasoning and outcomes produced by the current system. This scholarly framing captures many aspects of judicial processes, but overlooks how automated judicial decision-making likely would change how participants in the legal system interact with it, and how societal interests outside that system who care about its processes would be affected by those changes.

This Article demonstrates how scholarship on legal automation comes to leave out perspectives external to the process of judicial decision-making. It analyses the problem using behavioral equivalence, a Computer Science concept that assesses systems’ behaviors according to the observations of specific monitors of those systems. It introduces a framework to examine the various observers of the judicial process and the tradeoffs they may perceive when legal systems are automated. This framework will help scholars and policymakers more effectively anticipate the consequences of automating components of the judicial system.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Law, Legal Automation

Suggested Citation

Blass, Joseph, Observing the Effects of Automating the Judicial System with Behavioral Equivalence (May 25, 2021). South Carolina Law Review, Vol. 72, No. 4, 2022, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3852966

Joseph Blass (Contact Author)

Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law ( email )

750 N. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60611
United States

Northwestern University - Dept. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science ( email )

2001 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
United States

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