Risk factors in e-justice information systems

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2013.02.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Conflicts among stakeholders may arise from the lack of knowledge on organized development

  • Conflicts among stakeholders may arise from the lack of perspectives on the development

  • Users involved acquired an ownership (almost paternity like) feeling towards the system

  • The introduction of IT in the justice system must also be considered as a risk factor

  • The knowledge gap between the design team and the users may impair the entire system

Abstract

With the increase of the communication systems' bandwidth and with the dissemination of the information systems, the fields of information and communication technology application expanded in almost all directions. E-government in general and e-justice in particular are no exception and these areas suffered strong changes in the last decades. There is no democracy without a system of swift and transparent justice. Therefore, the introduction of information systems in the courts allows a decrease both in time and number of pending processes, boosting the efficiency of the services provided to citizens and to the society in general.

This paper analyzes and discusses different worldwide e-justice experiences. Special emphasis is addressed on the risk factors on the design, development and implementation of such systems. Finally, we present our own experience in the development of an e-justice information system in Cape Verde, an African development country. The scope of our system ranges from the design team until the training of the justice agents.

Keywords

E-justice
E-government
Risk factors
Information system
Developing countries
Cape Verde

Cited by (0)

João Rosa, MSc student in Masters in Information Systems.

Research interests: System modeling and architecture, workflow based systems, semantic web and e-government.

Cláudio Teixeira, Assistant researcher, PhD in Computer Science (2009); 5 year Degree in Telematics and Computers Engineering (2003).

Research interests: Integration of information systems, value added services, system modeling and architecture, XML based information systems, dynamically configured web portals, cloud computing and e-government.

Joaquim Sousa Pinto, Assistant Professor, PhD in Electronics Engineering (1997); 5 year Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering (1985).

Research interests: Digital Libraries, Information Systems, Cloud Computing.