Researcher calls for ‘rigorous evaluation’ of justice tech in recent article discussed on Talk Justice podcast

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WASHINGTON - Significant gaps remain in research on justice technology, according to a recent article published by the American Bar Foundation. Author Jason Tashea joined host Cat Moon for a new episode of the Talk Justice podcast, where they discussed these gaps, as well as other critical areas for expanding research into technology initiatives of the justice system, courts and legal aid organizations.

Tashea is director of technology, data and knowledge management at the National Center for State Courts. He recently contributed the article, "A Research Agenda for Justice Technology," to a volume published by the American Bar Foundation called "Global Perspectives on People-Centered Justice, Exploring the Evidence."

Moon said that she believes Tashea's article is incredibly timely because of the current landscape of rapidly building new justice technologies. She highlighted one major theme of Tashea's research: adoption and impact are "two different things."

"The paper's bluntest finding is that we don't know what works in justice technology," Tashea said. "The one thing that I point to that has the clearest evidence backing it is text message reminders to show up to court."

Multiple randomized controlled trials show a causal relationship between text message reminders for court and increased attendance in court, Tashea explained. Beyond that, he said, existing research does not provide significant evidence supporting many other technologies used in the justice system. One of the biggest issues his article identifies is that there "isn't an accepted definition of what 'success' means for a justice technology."

Tashea explained what he's observed over more than a decade working in and studying the legal technology space.

"There was this permeating theory from the leadership of the justice reform movement at the time [which] was 'let a thousand flowers bloom,' make the funds available for people to go run pilots, to test new ideas, build new products, make new promises, and let's just see what happens," Tashea said. "And after more than a decade of letting flowers bloom, we have the field, right?"

"The field is full of a bunch of flowers that have bloomed - we still don't know which one's poisonous, which one's medicinal, which one we should be taking to market," he continued. "And that's the metaphor I think about when I think about justice technology generally. We've got a lot of options out there and very little proof that any of it does anything."

Tashea's hope is that more rigorous research can help the justice sector understand which tools meaningfully improve outcomes for the people they are intended to serve.

To hear the rest of this conversation, listen to the full episode of Talk Justice online, on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. The podcast is sponsored by LSC's Leaders Council.