The disruptive potential of digital justice for access to justice: between reality and utopia

Abstract

Vulnerability is a condition of fragility or exposure to risk inherent to the human being, and it is also shaped by the surrounding socio-economic environment. Faced with this reality, States have increasingly expressed concern for vulnerable persons, seeking to rebalance asymmetries of power and to develop mechanisms for their protection, particularly with regard to access to justice. One of the paths followed has been the introduction of new technologies in the administration of justice and the creation of online dispute resolution. However, it is precisely within this expectation of disruption associated with digital justice that, paradoxically, certain obstacles emerge, raising doubts as to whether it constitutes a genuine solution or merely a utopian promise. Indeed, without addressing digital illiteracy, often overlapping with other categories of vulnerability, such as older persons or individuals with low levels of literacy, favourable outcomes in this field are unlikely to be achieved. Consequently, the approach most likely to reconcile the interests of speed, accessibility and universality lies in combining new technologies with other forms of bringing justice closer to citizens, particularly vulnerable persons, through models of proximity-based justice. Despite the relevance of digital justice in enhancing access to justice, its effectiveness is not universal. In this sense, it may be concluded that access to justice, as a fundamental right, will only be fully realised, especially for vulnerable persons, to the extent that it corresponds to and adapts to their specific needs. It must therefore rest on a integrated combination of three essential pillars: the digitalisation of justice, proximity, and intelligibility.