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The Rule of Law and Automation of Government Decision‐Making
Author(s) -
Zalnieriute Monika,
Moses Lyria Bennett,
Williams George
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.12412
Subject(s) - automation , receipt , government (linguistics) , rule of law , range (aeronautics) , law , law and economics , business , computer science , political science , computer security , economics , engineering , politics , world wide web , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , aerospace engineering
Governments around the world are deploying automation tools in making decisions that affect rights and entitlements. The interests affected are very broad, ranging from time spent in detention to the receipt of social security benefits. This article focusses on the impact on rule of law values of automation using: (1) pre‐programmed rules (for example, expert systems); and (2) predictive inferencing whereby rules are derived from historic data (such by applying supervised machine learning). The article examines the use of these systems across a range of nations. It explores the tension between the rule of law and rapid technological change and concludes with observations on how the automation of government decision‐making can both enhance and detract from rule of law values.