Abstract: The article addresses the technological solutions developed for the implementation of the Justice 4.0 Program, an initiative that aims to accelerate the digital transformation of the Judiciary. A case study in the State Court of Rio de Janeiro is reviewed, a pioneer in cases involving industrial property, copyright and business name, and concludes with the first results of this initiative.
Keywords: CNJ – Justice 4.0 – Statistical data
- Introduction
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 and the need to comply with social isolation measures determined by health authorities imposed several challenges on the Judiciary in Brazil. With the doors closed for face-to-face service and adopting a comprehensive home office regime, new solutions had to be devised to ensure the continuity of jurisdictional provision in times of abnormality, especially the displacement of judicial activities to the online environment, such as hearings and trial sessions.
It is in this context that Justice 4.0 emerged, a program created by the joint effort of the National Council of Justice (CNJ – acronym in Portuguese to Conselho Nacional de Justiça), the Federal Council of Justice (CJF – acronym in Portuguese to Conselho da Justiça Federal) and the United Nations Development Program (PNUD – acronym in Portuguese to Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento), to implement digital justice in Brazilian courts and consolidate important technological advances in Brazil.
Aiming at democratizing access to justice and maximizing effectiveness and transparency in courts, the Justice 4.0 Program innovates by using artificial intelligence and technology to build a more transparent, collaborative, efficient and integrated jurisdictional system, strategically dividing its performance into four axis: innovation and technology; preventing and combating corruption and money laundering and asset recovery; information management and judicial policies; and strengthening the institutional capacities of the National Council of Justice.
To this end, the important technological solutions developed include the implementation of the 100% digital Court, virtual clerk support and justice centers 4.0, which guarantee effectiveness to the axis of action focused on innovation and technology, in addition to the creation and improvement of the DATAJUD, Codex, Sniper and SNBA programs, digital platforms that comply with the other axis of action of the Justice 4.0 Program.
- Means and ends of the Justice 4.0 Program
DATAJUD, which is the National Database of the Judiciary and concentrates the data related to the productivity of the courts, works in an integrated manner with the Codex system, which extracts, indexes and centralizes all the information contained in the judicial proceedings in progress, allowing the functionality of automating the completion of the statistics of the Judiciary. As a result of the initiative, data were compiled and made available regarding the number of lawsuits filed, pending completion, ruled, suspended, among other pertinent data, also allowing the research of statistics for a specific period.
In addition, the Sniper and SNBA programs allow, respectively, the crossing of data on corporate, equity and financial ties of individuals and legal entities, and the management and destination of assets seized by the Judiciary, which reinforce the axis of prevention and fight against corruption and money laundering and asset recovery, in addition to collaborating for the effectiveness and satisfaction of judicial decisions, especially in civil enforcement proceedings.
In addition, the 100% digital Court was implemented, created by CNJ Resolution No. 345 of October 9th, 2020, whose premise is the practice of procedural acts exclusively by electronic and remote means, including to serve the public and hold hearings. In order to operationalize the installation and operation of the 100% digital Court, the digital clerk support was also created, an electronic tool that allows parties and lawyers to remotely contact magistrates through the secretariats of the courts and chambers, facilitating access to justice and expediting the progress of proceedings. Finally, the laudable initiative of the Justice 4.0 Program also brought an important jurisdictional tool with the creation of the Justice Nuclei 4.0, established by CNJ Resolution No. 385, of April 6th, 2021 and CNJ Resolution No. 398 of June 9th, 2021.
The State Court of Rio de Janeiro (TJ/RJ), a pioneer in the aggregation of the nuclei to the jurisdictional activity, currently has seven implemented Justice Nuclei 4.0, each specialized in a specific matter, with the practice of procedural acts in a completely digital way. The first nucleus, installed in October 2021 at TJ/RJ, has jurisdiction throughout the State of Rio de Janeiro, and is exclusive for the appreciation of matters related to industrial property, copyrights, and business names, alleviating the workload of the business courts.
The procedure for referral of the case to the Nucleus of Justice 4.0 is simple, with the request of one of the parties and the agreement of both parties to be implemented. From that moment on, the dockets migrates from the physical business court to be ruled by the justice center, where all procedural acts become exclusively electronic and remote.
Although the Justice 4.0 Program is optional, its acceptance by the courts is quite expressive: in only one year in force, it counts with the full adherence of all Superior Courts, Federal Justice and Labor Justice, in addition to having been implemented in 96% of State courts, 59% in Electoral Justice and 33% in Military Justice.
Likewise, the results obtained in the balance sheet of the first year of the existence of the Justice 4.0 Program, also impress: according to data disclosed in DATAJUD, database of the National Council of Justice related to the 100% digital Court, by 03/31/2022, the State Court of Rio de Janeiro, in the first instance, received 240,443 new cases, while 202,273 cases have already been tried. As for the Justice Nuclei 4.0 of the Court of Justice of the State of Rio de Janeiro itself, there is still no data compiled and made available on the results of its performance in its eight months it has been in force.
- Is it a path of no return?
According to the Legal Counsel (2022), a CNJ survey released in June 2022 revealed that artificial intelligence is already present in most Brazilian courts. It identified 111 projects with this technology, in execution or under development. In June 2021, they were 41 – an increase of 171% in the period. Currently, 53 courts develop solutions using this technology. Most impact a high number of lawsuits: 90% of projects benefit more than a thousand lawsuits.
Thus, attentive to scientific and technological progress, the Justice 4.0 Program, funded by the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the Federal Council of Justice (CJF), complies with the established objectives, especially regarding the modernization of the Brazilian judicial system, presenting consistent numbers in a year of term, and pointing out a new direction of judicial lawsuits, towards the expansion of access to justice and seeking to relieve physical services through simplification and expedition of the practice of procedural acts.
References
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