NCJ Number
69203
Date Published
Unknown
Length
18 pages
Annotation
THE APPROPRIATENESS OF USING COMPUTER-ASSISTED LEGAL RESEARCH FOR PARTICULAR RESEARCH PROBLEMS IS DISCUSSED.
Abstract
ALL LEGAL RESEARCH INVOLVES CERTAIN FIXED STEPS: (1) EXTRACTING FROM THE INFORMATION IN THE RESEARCHER'S MIND THE KEY WORDS, PHRASES, AND NUMBERS WHICH CHARACTERIZE THE PROBLEM AND WHICH APPEAR IN PUBLISHED INDEXES, (2) GROUPING THE RETRIEVAL KEYS TO REDUCE THE VOLUME OF STATUTES WHICH MUST BE SCANNED, (3) RETRIEVING MATERIALS FROM THE LIBRARY AND BROWSING THROUGH THEM, (4) SEPARATING RELEVANT FROM IRRELEVANT MATERIAL, AND (5) ANALYZING THE DIFFERENT MATERIALS. A VARIETY OF HYPOTHESES MUST THEN BE CHECKED OUT. ALL RESEARCH TOOLS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY THE RETRIEVAL KEYS THAT THEY MAKE AVAILABLE, THE WAYS IN WHICH RETRIEVAL KEYS CAN BE GROUPED, AND THE MATERIALS WITHIN THE LIBRARY TO WHICH THE RETRIEVAL KEYS ARE LINKED. THE ADVANTAGE OF A DIGITAL COMPUTER AS A RESEARCH TOOL IS THAT EVERY WORD, PHRASE, OR NUMBER IN A CASE OR STATUTE CAN BE USED AS A RETRIEVAL KEY; THE COMPUTER ALSO FUNCTIONS AS AN EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTE FOR AN ANNOTATED STATUTORY COLLECTION. EVIDENTIARY DATA PLACED IN SUCH A COMPUTER CAN BE SEARCHED IN THE SAME WAY AS TEXTS OF CASES. PRATICAL LIMITS ARE IMPOSED ON COMPUTERS BY ABSENCE OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FROM DATA BASES; E.G., VERY OLD CASES, BY UNAVAILABILITY OF SOME MANUAL RESEARCH TOOLS IN MACHINE-READABLE FORM, AND BY THE COMPUTER'S INABILITY TO SUGGEST WHICH RETRIEVAL KEYS A RESEARCHER SHOULD CONSIDER. COMPUTERS ARE BEST USED FOR RESEARCH TASKS WHICH CAN BE PERFORMED QUICKLY BY COMPUTER BUT ARE TIMECONSUMING MANUALLY, FOR CASES EMPLOYING STANDARDIZED LANGUAGE, AND FOR CASES CONTAINING WORDS SUCH AS 'CONDOMINIUM.' COMPUTERS ARE ALSO USEFUL FOR CHECKING THE COMPLETENESS OF ONE'S RESEARCH. TABLES ARE SUPPLIED.