Improving delivery of justice through use of science and technology

Professor Ajith de Alwis is a senior lecturer of the Chemical and Process Engineering Department of University of Moratuwa and was the former HOD of the same department. He has shared his knowledge, experience and expertise with university students through lecturing, research and many other student activity programs. Application of science and technology into real life situations in Sri Lanka to make tiny improvements in thousand places to make a visible difference at macro level is what he believes in. Professor Alwis is one of the science team leaders with Sri Lanka Nanotechnology Institution (SLINTEC), which is to improve application of nanotechnology in industries for economical and technological growth of the country. Given below are his views on applying science and technology into legal enforcement to enhance effectiveness.

Dharshani Lahandapura Attorney-at-law

Sri Lanka is currently passing through a series of national problems which cumulatively have the potential to destroy many of the values and institutions we have, as Justice Weeramantry clearly stated. He includes the sphere of judicial activity in the list where serious decline has taken place in recent decades. Long delays and huge expenses are eroding confidence in the judicial system. It is stated that as long as 5 to 10 years may take before decisions are reached.

Indeed justice delayed is justice denied! It is imperative that we resort to new techniques and use superior methods and make every effort to instill confidence. Science and Technology can make its strong contribution here. Walk into any police station, courthouse and what is apparent is that time seems to have stood still. View the picture of any New York mobile patrol car and the technology gap is evident.

The most important resource one is wasting is time - the one resource one can never recycle. Whenever we examine critically how our law enforcement operates and the resources they have access to, one must seriously wonder about the efficiency. The difficulties and lack of resources finally surface as delays and failures.

Video briefings

Some examples from US show the gap that is developing. Instead of transporting prisoners for arraignments, the courts could arraign prisoners through video conferencing.

Video briefings are used to link the various police divisions; Remote police stations are sending fingerprints through the network to support investigations. Watching the discovery channel or the popular CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) series is quite revealing on the depth of investigations and analysis. From a pilot program in a handful of federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, in US the video conferencing has grown to link federal courts with remote locations, prisons and far-flung divisional courts. The U.S. attorney’s offices, Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons also have video conferencing programs that are accessible to the courts or are conducted in cooperation with federal court programs. Modern technology is used in minimizing various risks associated with extra movement.

It is however heartening to note the vision statement of the Ministry of Justice and Law Reform - to respond to societal needs in keeping with global advancements and the aspirations of the people and realizing an efficient system of administration of justice.

Some aspects such as reading the judgments on the web are welcome additions at present. The important development required is to identify properly the hardware elements necessary to upgrade the system within a defined time plan.

An interesting case study can be presented in terms of goods taken in as material evidence in courts. It is quite common to see in Sri Lanka, items taken for a court hearing etc. rusting away or wasted or really not being used for a long time. This is the view of the civilians as all what may be happening behind the scenes is not known.

At times after a series of hearings one reads on paper that the material held in court custody are really not what they were purported to be or the volumes and quantities have changed. White powder which was initially drugs of some value later turn out to be talcum powder! Such a revelation will result in acquittals, with the system subjected to questioning and the respect diminished and eroded. The technology can offer many ways to achieve some efficiency and effectiveness. Forensics or analytical sciences can be made use of to identify, quantify and record which could then be the future case material thus relieving the necessity of holding on to the primary material. All options from analysis to visual record keeping could be utilized. This will free the confiscated material either to be released or to be used. We have very limited capabilities in this regard.

The backlog in the Government Analyst’s Department is telling. With the staff position and expertise severely dented through brain drain and a poor salary structure simple arithmetic is sufficient to reveal that science is not available in sufficient strength to help serve the course of justice.

Under such circumstances different information extraction techniques may well be employed by the relevant personnel, which of course cannot ever be condoned. It is not the absence of science and technology that is the problem but the failure to implement resources so that science and technology could be mobilized to serve. Again within the university system forensic sciences create very little interest and future human resources are also dwindling.

Student’s selection of streams based on existing remuneration opportunities (no private practice for forensic scientists) is an indicator to declining value based education.

Energy problem

Local daily newspapers report that illegal liquor is simply drained off preventing any use. From the immediate justice the action is acceptable. In today’s climate of growing energy problem it appears real justice appear to be derived in this situation. Offender is to be punished but the resource is not to be penalized but made use of. In Sri Lanka we appear to punish the wrong doer and definitely the resource.

But in Sweden millions of wines and spirits moving inside the country from German and Denmark, are seized by the Customs and are trucked to a warehouse where they dump into a crushing machine.

The beverages are separated from their containers and blended with water to make the largest and probably worst-tasting cocktail imaginable. This is then taken by tanker to a plant and turned into bio-fuel to power vehicles. Of this exercise the Biogas train is the most exciting to read about, which has been running between Linkoping and Vastervik.

Road traffic accident is another example that we could consider in this context. Multitude of traffic accidents on our roads really cries out for better efficiency in post-event management. We all must have faced this situation in couple of occasions. The moment an accident happens, the drivers search for pieces of rocks etc. to mark the position. The police have no means of photographing the event. Even a simple scratch can result in a significant traffic jam. The measurements are crude and the maps drawn are quite simplistic. Then the whole episode is taken down and one would sign it.

When one wants an extract of it there is never the use of a photocopier but the ritual of retyping the pages take place. The whole issue of bringing in A4 papers, stamps, waiting for the contract typist (at times) to come and type and have it ready had meant that there is phenomenal business success with the VIP model of insurance. The flip side been today Sri Lanka is recording a reduction in minor traffic accidents as they do not get recorded.

Even if the accident gets recorded in a case such as fatality, outdated systems and procedures will delay justice. Witnesses are to forgo large number of days work and have to face hard times at the courts, questioning and cross examinations. Even simplest of technologies are not utilized to improve the efficiencies. The process of taking down the proceedings has not moved on with the times. How many bus drivers are on the wheel, even if their driving licences are confiscated?

Walk into a traffic branch of any police station and observe the incident map displayed. The map with many dots, triangles belongs more to the last century. The use of GPS/GIS geographical information systems will enable much more information analysis and planning as well as make the whole job much more exciting.

The use of digitized maps etc. and Google Earth etc. are outside the facilities available to law enforcement in Sri Lanka. The question to ask is why not? When lots of discussions are on cyber crimes a computer is not even available within a local police station.

It is interesting to contemplate taking down a complaint related to cyber crime. We proudly claim to offer smart cards etc. but the regulatory system is far from the desired datum to support relevant crime and incidents. These resources are not flowing into the law enforcement. Growth has been assigned to take place in a different sector and this sector is not concerned much with the systems of State. Why cannot those who are in planning, implement equipping the system with better technological capability?

In the 21st Century this lack of ability is going to cripple law enforcement to be effective and also lowers the overall desirability of such positions by the job seekers. These twin effects are having a real negative impact.

The developments and the associated hype of the information age have created a related drive within the country - e-Sri Lanka. The e-Sri Lanka project is strongly supporting government agencies to move into the information age. The more we delay the magnitude of the problem is going to multiply and the importance of time should be kept in mind.

Some procedures and protocols will definitely require revisiting with a view to change. The judiciary in Sri Lanka should have the necessary support from within the national borders and this lack of support has been shown many a times. Much of forensic studies are not done and in case of important events one has to rely on external support.

The most recent perhaps is the case involving handwriting of a principal of a school, which was handled by an expert from India. These are professional positions that we should be developing people to take up and a clear understanding of the human resource requirement should be there.

Again when DNA fingerprinting is used in crime investigations the state, defence and the establishment should have sufficient choice and wider access. Baby 81 during the tsunami demonstrated the need but have we learnt from these situations? This almost calls for a scientific cadre for the legal profession. Simply the concept of Expert Witness may not be sufficient to really deliver justice. For an example recently the expert comments from a Professor of Fisheries with respect to a charge on fish kills from dynamiting was not accepted by the courts as expert evidence, which was a sad failure of the judiciary.

It is apparent that there is a great need for improvement in the process of delivery of justice. The mechanism suggested for improvement of this state of affairs is the use of science and technology.

Also suggested is the commonly accepted statement that the private sector as the engine of growth is not quite right and science and technology should be the vehicle for growth.

The mess the country has got into is, to a good extent, due to the abdication of its thinking responsibilities by the intellectual community. Unfortunately what ails Sri Lanka is broadly due to the inaction of the silent majority. All professional in the legal and science and technology field have to become vocal by suggesting to dispel a myth and to position science and technology to improve the process of delivery of justice as well as to realize development.

Prepared by Dharshani Lahandapura, Attorney-at-law based on interview with Professor Ajith de Alwis of University of Moratuwa.