Technology for justice

Every year on October 10, the World Day Against the Death Penalty is commemorated to raise awareness about the negative societal impact of capital punishment. This year, the day is dedicated to the right to effective legal counsel for those facing a death sentence.

While capital punishment has yet to produce any statistical evidence of being a deterrent to crime anywhere in the world, in Pakistan, the shoddy implementation of the punishment itself is a crime against innocents, most of whom not surprisingly, come from the most marginalized segments of society.

In a March 2019 study conducted by the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, it was asserted that out of 310 judgements reviewed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan between 2010 and 2018, 78 percent of the death sentences were overturned. Approximately half were acquittals, based on wrongful convictions. As per the report, on average, one of these death row detainees spent 10 years in prison prior to their Supreme Court hearing.

One such inmate, Muhammad Iqbal was on death row for 22 years, based on a confession extracted by torture. In a recent interview, his legal counsel laughed, while commenting that torture is a routine part of criminal investigations. Which is to say that actions the state considers illegal are routinely committed by the state and those responsible for defending clients from those crimes easily accept this profoundly sick reality.

While the state is bound to ensure that every defendant is provided with adequate legal counsel, it doesn’t. State appointed lawyers are paid poorly, the quality of representation offered is substandard and this contributes nicely to the bottleneck that is our legal system. An SCBA report filed earlier this year with the Supreme Court stated that approximately two-thirds of the entire prison population was under trial.

This begs the question of whether or not it is possible in our rigid, antiquated system to obtain improved legal representation for those who cannot afford it – and if so, how? It may sound a bit clichéd but the answer lies in already proven tech-based approaches to legal reform.

As early as 2012, the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology envisioned a future where access to justice meant that litigants could easily access information regarding their legal rights, apply for legal aid electronically, interact with lawyers online, find and complete the forms required for court, access the court’s case management system to file responses and check on the progress of their case.

Today, legal apps are creating impact across the world. From platforms like LegalZoom that allow laypersons to create a will, to Rocket Lawyer which allows clients to obtain real time legal advice and draft legal documents online, the legal tech space is blowing up. Sadly, everywhere but here.

This is not to say that localized efforts aren’t taking place in both the public and private sectors. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s initial efforts to encourage the development of a case management system for the high court in Punjab have succeeded in setting the goal post for transforming the court system in the province. He is now in the Supreme Court, and along with Justice Mushir Alam who has done the same in Sindh, remains committed to the digitization of the court system. Private sector initiatives like Courting the Law, Research Society of International Law and others are leveraging the digital space to create multimedia content that is guiding the next generation of lawyers and raising awareness of complex legal issues not just among lawyers but civil society activists as well.

While government(s) remain sluggish in implementing tech-based reforms in their own departments due to internal challenges, they can easily create an enabling environment for technologists by developing a robust policy framework that incentivizes the private sector to invest in legal-tech – a low hanging fruit if there ever was one.

As alluded to earlier, between 2010 and 2018, the Supreme Court saved 241 of 310 death row inmates that came before them seeking justice. No doubt, the abolition of the death penalty itself remains a challenge in Pakistan.

However, leveraging technology to connect marginalized defendants facing the death penalty with young, digitally inclined lawyers willing to represent them and build their professional capacity at the same time, offers an opportunity to save lives today.

That so many fall prey to systemic miscarriages of justice is shameful. But even if the government won’t step up, all the tools required to disrupt our legal system’s mediocrity are available to civil society tech-based legal reform advocates.

We must band together now, to force data driven reform through engagement with government stakeholders, to build public trust in legal institutions and make Pakistan a more equitable country.

The writer is chief strategist at Justice Project Pakistan and co-founder of Vakeel Online.

Email: isfundiar.kasuri@jpp.org.pk