Artificial Intelligence and Access to Justice: Analyzing Technology’s Role in Legal Systems From a Human Rights Perspective
Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper explores the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern legal systems through a human rights lens. As AI technologies rapidly permeate judicial processes—ranging from predictive policing and legal research automation to sentencing and risk assessments—the tension between efficiency and fairness becomes increasingly pronounced. The study begins by highlighting the human rights risks associated with unregulated AI, as exemplified by the racially biased outcomes of the COMPAS algorithm. It then outlines the potential benefits of AI, including increased access to legal resources, a reduction in human bias, and improved consistency in case resolution. However, the paper also underscores significant ethical and legal challenges. These include algorithmic discrimination, opacity in decision-making systems, accountability gaps, and threats to due process and individual privacy. Particular attention is given to how such risks disproportionately affect marginalized communities, exacerbating existing inequalities rather than mitigating them. The study identifies these issues not as inevitable consequences of AI, but as the result of insufficient safeguards, lack of oversight, and failure to embed human rights principles in design and deployment. To address these concerns, the paper proposes a framework of safeguards including algorithmic transparency, independent oversight, regulatory reform, and digital legal literacy. It advocates for “human rights by design” as a guiding principle for AI development in legal contexts. Ultimately, the paper argues that AI can serve as a transformative tool for justice—provided it is governed through interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical foresight, and inclusive policy-making. The findings call for a shift from techno-solutionism to a human-centered, rights-based approach to legal innovation. Only then can AI contribute meaningfully to enhancing access to justice without undermining the core values of democratic legal systems.
Author: Aiko WATANABE
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W7084123882