| Abstract [eng] |
Algorithms are increasingly being used in court decisions. An experimental research strategy was used to investigate how different applications of algorithms in courts relate to perceived justice while manipulating the level of algorithmic transparency and outcome control. The study involved 257 (58% female; mean age 28 years) people from the Internet. Randomized into 4 groups, they watched different videos about the use of algorithms in court. Then completed a questionnaire with perceived justice (Conlon, Porter, & Parks, 2004), trust in legal technology (Barysė, 2022), and in judges' decision scales, also a few questions about demographics. Statistical analysis found that a procedure in which the judge has full outcome control is perceived as fairer than one in which an algorithm makes the final decision. The transparency of the algorithm increases perceived justice only when the judge makes the final decision but does not change it when the algorithm makes the decision alone. Perceived justice is also increased by persons' greater trust in legal technology. Thus, according to the study, in order to introduce a procedure that is perceived as just, it is important to increase public trust in legal technology, make the technology transparent and use it only as an aid to decision-making. |
