Paper short abstract:

This project will investigate the interoperable digital systems implemented and developed for the Danish court administration and scrutinise the structures and cooperation dynamics as well as the role of the actors involved in the operationalisation, process and execution of justice in DK.

Paper long abstract:

The development of digital and automated systems in the Danish courts are redefining the way in which the justice system is structured and practiced. Simultaneously, digitalization affects how different institutions share data, both vertically and horizontally. Data submitted or harvested by one institution may later acquire evidential character elsewhere in the justice system, as it is interoperably shared between. Interoperable digital systems challenge existing structures and cooperation dynamics as well as redefine the role of the actors involved in the operationalisation, process and execution of justice. This project aims to problematize collectively imagined forms of social order embedded in the digitalization of Danish courts, not as a phenomenon in isolation but holistically as an interoperable dyad focusing on courts. Drawing on the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries (Jasanoff and Kim 2008), the project investigates the implicit understandings and embedded relationships within the justice system. Employing an ethnographic approach, the PhD project will involve document analysis, expert interviews, and fieldwork observations conducted at two different courthouses in Denmark, as well as observations at the Danish Courthouse Agency. I will critically scrutinize how digitalization serves as a steppingstone toward the establishment of an interoperable system that will leverage data from diverse sources to allegedly optimize court processes and reduce human bias. In that sense, I will investigate if and how the pursuit of digital solutionism takes precedence over ethical considerations such as algorithmic bias, transparency, and accountability.