ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND TECHNOLOGY: AN ANALYSIS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DIGITAL VULNERABILITY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss whether the new technologies applied to legal proceedings as mechanisms to ensure access to justice have, in fact, served as facilitating tools—particularly within the Brazilian social context, which is marked by inequality and vulnerability. This research adopts a deductive approach through exploratory bibliographic research, drawing on theoretical aspects related to digital vulnerability in order to later analyze them in contrast with the implementation of technological tools currently used to perform procedural acts throughout legal proceedings. Such technologies have been addressed positively in legal literature, primarily on the grounds that they promote efficiency, cost reduction, sustainability, promptness, and access to justice. As a result, it is concluded that the use of technological means throughout legal proceedings, in their current form, acts as a factor that amplifies vulnerability and often hinders access to justice, thereby violating constitutional procedural principles—especially the principle of inalienability of jurisdiction. Furthermore, this highlights the need for specific legislation on the subject, which should not be grounded in neoliberal discourse, but rather based on constitutional norms and principles inherent to due process. This legislation must also avoid being modeled on foreign methods, as the socio-political and economic realities of Brazil must be taken into account in order to appropriately implement procedural instruments that ensure fair and effective legal protection.