TECHNOLOGY AND COURT ADMINISTRATION IN THE 21ST-CENTURY - HURTLING TOWARD

This article begins from the position that technology is a human creat ion used to help achieve desirable ends. Therefore, to understand tech nology's impact on court administration (defined as case processing su pport to judicial decision-making), the ends or values to be realized in court operation must first be specified. Seven case deciding values (impartiality, finality, public participation and oversight, accurate ly declaring and applying the law, protecting individual rights, being fair and equitable in decisions, and preserving/strengthening politic al community) are identified along with seven case support values (acc ess, accurate information, equality of treatment, protection of privac y, high quality of operation, efficiency, and accountability). Using t his values framework, specific technological options and their possibl e impacts are analyzed in terms of both the direct and indirect case p rocessing support provided by court administration. In the area of dir ect case processing support, the approach taken is to follow the flow of a case from the point of thinking about beginning legal action thro ugh post-trial proceedings. In the area of indirect case processing su pport, the focus is on technology's impact on court organizational des ign and management.