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1 From Law and Technology to Law as Technology

• Published: September 2018
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This chapter argues that law can be seen as technological when, ironically, law is called to respond to technological change. Through a focus on the legal responses to cloning, it is shown that the called-for laws were responding to visions of cloning futures directly sourced from science fiction. Having located these legal acts within science fiction, the essential elements of this future-oriented process – monstrous technology, vulnerable humanity and saving law – can be seen. This will be identified as the ‘Frankenstein myth.’ What is revealed is that science fiction holds the technical and legal together at the level of substantive dreaming and also at the level of basic commitments. The irony intrudes at this point. This saving law that can determine the future has a particular character. It is a species of pure power, manufactured through procedure in the present to determine the future. It appears to have the same characteristics that have been ascribed to technology. With this the categories established by the Frankenstein myth of ‘technology’, ‘humanity’ and ‘law’ seem to be imploded. What is glimpsed is the singularity of technical legality.

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Legal Technology: Assessment of the Legal Tech Industry’s Potential

• Open access
• Published: 28 January 2022
• Volume 14 , pages 595–619, ( 2023 )

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• Karolina Mania   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9063-7563 1  

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The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the sector of legal services has resulted in the emergence of a new category of services known as legal technology (legal tech). This article aims at defining the current state of research concerning the matter, confirming its interdisciplinary nature and examining the level of its popularity. The strategy assumed for the article has influenced the order and sequence of the topics covered starting from an introduction to legal technology together with analysis of the context of the definition of the term (legal tech) (“ Introduction ” section), through a detailed discussion of the methodology of systematic literature review, its results and an appraisal of the popularity of the notions (“ Materials and Methods ” and “ Bibliometric Analysis ” sections), the application of the thematic analysis method (“ Thematic Analysis of the Reference Repository ” section), Google Trends analysis (“ Analysis of the Popularity of the Terms ‘Legal Technology’ or ‘Legal Tech’ (Google Trends) ” section), and finally the conclusions (“ Conclusions ” section). The research methodology covers a systematic literature review, quantitative bibliometric analysis, the thematic analysis method, and — complementarily — popularity analysis performed using the Google Trends analytical tool. The article confirms the multidisciplinary nature of legal technology as a subject matter, indicating the thematic categories corresponding with the notion under investigation. It contains a description of the geographical segmentation and difference in that regard at a global level. The author has verified the presence of publications on legal technology and shown that the future of the legal services sector lies in an interdisciplinary juxtaposition of the classic legal sciences with entirely new areas, i.e. IT, artificial intelligence, and data analysis.

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Introduction

The impact exerted by information and communication technologies on individual branches of the economy lets one assume that the legal services sector is also subject to change resulting from the common use of ICT tools. Footnote 1 Legal services covering a range of components such as legal consultancy, representing the client in court and out-of-court proceedings, producing legal documentation, and other unclassified activities performed by applying specialist legal knowledge, are subject to the process of digital transformation (Hartung et al., 2018 ). Online legal advice, case management systems, electronic arbitration proceedings, or AI-based document analysis are already commonplace in law firms and legal departments across the world (Abramovsky & Griffith, 2006 ).

Using advanced IT solutions to attain the objectives of both effective provision of legal services and representing the interest of law firms and legal departments has triggered the emergence of a new legal services sector, i.e. legal technology (abridged to legal tech) (Katsh, 1996 ). Footnote 2 The term covers all information and communication technologies used in the legal service sector such as contract management systems or document management systems, systems of e-discovery in litigation, or judicial predictive systems (Fenwick et al., 2019 ).

The potential of using IT solution dedicated to the legal industry is reflected in business reports, suggesting that in 2018 legal tech investment reached USD 1 billion, that is almost four times more than in the preceding year (USD 233 million in 2017). Footnote 3 Correlating that data with a growing value of the global market of legal services estimated to reach a record-breaking USD 1.011 trillion in 2021, up from USD 849 billion in 2017, USD 886 billion in 2018, and USD 925 billion in 2019, one could conclude that the future of the legal services sector is moving towards a technological revolution entailing a business model change, process automation, and employment reduction (Bourke et al., 2020 ). Footnote 4

Although that data suggest growing trends as regards the value of the global legal tech market, the list of companies in the sector developed by a research project of Stanford University (USA) called Stanford Law School’s LegalTech Index, in November 2019 there existed (globally) a mere (or as many as?) 1249 entities (firms) offering technologies discussed here dedicated to the legal sector. Footnote 5 A relatively limited number of players generating that market’s great value makes one wonder and want to embark on advanced analytical studies that would allow for its realistic assessment (Wang, 2007 ).

The sector has rapidly grown over the last few years, which can be seen in an increasing number of publications. Footnote 6 At the same time, the literature lacks a systematic review investigating the bibliometric and thematic analysis of the term (Snyder, 2019 ). It is necessary to consider the level of popularity of the topic, its potential, and interdisciplinary character. That is why the first step towards an in-depth analysis of any topic must involve becoming familiar with the current state of knowledge, which translates into the need to systematically review academic literature (Leith, 2000 ).

The paper offers original contributions to the current literature. This contribution aims at performing the first step in research devoted to the legal tech industry, starting from just systematic literature review that would result in a preliminary assessment of the potential of the matter at hand as well defining the current state of knowledge, links with specific scientific disciplines, and followed by positing possible research gaps. Footnote 7

The paper is structured as follows: the second section presents the research methodology and the third one the bibliometric analysis covering analysis using the Google Trends tool. The fourth is concentrated on a thematic analysis of the reference repository (indicated in the “ Bibliometric Analysis ” section). The conclusion with the description of a scope for future research is located in the last section.

The Term ‘Legal Technology’

When starting to analyse this topic, it is worth starting by explaining the origins of the term ‘legal technology’, which in the USA has been used since around 2010 and which derives from a combination of the terms ‘legal service’ and ‘technology’ (Hartung et al., 2017 ). Footnote 8 The term was originally used by the start-up community with a strong interest in the newly emerging field of IT services. Searching for earlier mentions of this related topic in the literature, one can find publications referring to lawyer support systems including expert systems dating back as far as the 1960s (Maiellaro, 1970 ). For the purpose of this article, this concept is understood as IT tools, including both hardware and software, used in law.

On the basis of the completed literature review, in accordance with the methodological guidelines of conducting an integrative literature review, I have analysed the concept and its definition (Torraco, 2005 ; Burke & Hutchins, 2007 ; Shuck, 2011 ). An in-depth analysis of the definitions used within the repository of texts confirmed the lack of a homogenous definition of the concept of legal tech, which corresponds to the nature of the IT services sector studied, which does not require the introduction of normative definitions, characterised by an evolutionary nature, variable scope, and the need for constant adaptation to the needs of the market, mainly the addressees of its services — the lawyers. Footnote 9

In the surveyed repository, I found no definition of legal technology as such. Few authors indicated the author’s explanation of the subjective understanding of the concept, which was done, for example, by T. Kerikmäe, T. Hoffmann, and A. Chochia in the article ‘Legal technology for law firms: Determining roadmaps for innovation’ indicating that ‘Legal technology, or Legal Tech, in this context represents a broad range of solutions that affect both lawyers and clients on various levels’ (Kerikmäe et al., 2018 ). However, these are not attempts to introduce a systematic definition of the concept or to collate the terminology used so far in the literature on the topic. In the compilation of texts, however, I have encountered numerous references directly to the notion, which occurred in different contexts. On the basis of the gathered knowledge, I can state that whilst the authors do not use a definition of the concept, they all use it when referring to any IT solutions applied in the field of law.

Not finding any attempts to define the notion of legal tech, I decided to introduce a division of the specificity of the texts included in the repository. Hence, I have singled out articles of the following nature Footnote 10 :

Case studies, offering in-depth descriptions of particular tools belonging to the field of legal tech (Giordano, 2004 ; Moxley, 2015 ; Gerami & Hawes, 2018 );

Technological, making clarifications in the area of applied technical solutions possible in specific tools or systems (Heintz, 2001 ; Hokkanen & Lauritsen, 2002 ; Ryan, 2017 ; Veatch, 2018 );

Overviews juxtaposing areas of technology application as translated, for example, into legal application practice (Oskamp & Lauritsen, 2002 ; Lettieri et al., 2018 ) or the historical context of the development of the legal tech field (Socha, 2017 );

Theoretical, analysing conceptual approaches to selected issues at the interface of technology and law (Leith, 2005 ; Ruhl & Katz,  2015 );

Opinion-forming, being expressions of a stance, the voice of authors regarding the further impact of legal tech on the legal service market (Marcus, 2008 ; Marin, 2011 ; Widrig & Tag, 2014 ; Dixon Jr,, 2015 ; Kerikmäe et al., 2018 ); and

Empirical, describing the course of the research carried out and its results (Lambert, 2008 ). Footnote 11

In conclusion, the notion of legal technology, which has no legal definition, is therefore essentially a doctrinal concept, variously understood by authors. For the most part, authors give a descriptive account of the concept or try to put it into a functional framework.

In addition to the search for a definition of the concept of legal tech, it is necessary to mention the process of digitalisation being the cause of the occurring changes on the legal service market, as well as the emergence and dynamic development of such sectors as legal tech (Oster, 2021 ). The process of digitalisation of law can be divided into three stages. The first was based on copying the content of the law into legal information systems, i.e. on their digitisation (Zeleznikow & Hunter, 1994 ). The second is based on the automation of decision-making processes, i.e. the creation of more or less sophisticated expert systems, using, amongst other things, inference mechanisms (Kerikmäe & Särav, 2017 ). The third consists in linking legal rules or contract content to programming codes, i.e. legal engineering (Goldenfein & Leiter, 2018 ).

The digitalisation of services triggers a kind of legal-technological interdependence, as shown by the development of artificial intelligence, the current manifestation of which is the work on the creation of a European framework for functioning in this field published by the European Parliament on 20 October 2020 entitled ‘Framework of ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, robotics, and related technologies’. Footnote 12 The new algorithms being developed will have to comply with the rules and legal order of the European Union, and the guardian of this change is legislation.

Materials and Methods

To capture the current state of scientific achievements on the subject the method of systematic literature review (SLR) has been used, allowing for a thorough understanding of the notion examined, assessment of the advancement of the research carried out to date, identifying research gaps, and thereby examining the quantitative and qualitative nature of available academic publications (“ Bibliometric Analysis Focused on the Year Publication ” section) (Gimenez & Tachizawa, 2012 ). “ Bibliometric Analysis Focused on the Selection of the Journal, Research Questions, and Keywords ” section, in turn, makes accessory use of the analytical tool Google Trends to show tendencies linked to the results found at earlier stages.

‘SLRs in management are used to provide transparency, clarity, accessibility, and impartial inclusive coverage on a particular area (Thome et al., 2016 )’ (Michie & Williams, 2003 ). As a comprehensive method, it is objective and replicable. The systematic literature review performed involved three stages: (1) creation of a literature database, (2) selection of the works included, and (3) analysis (Levy & Ellis, 2006 ). The first phase included search criteria identification, specification of inclusion criteria restricting works sequentially included in the set as well as their re-verification, and search for sources in three scientific databases: ProQuest, Ebsco, and JSTOR (Lu et al., 2018 ).

As any literature examination needs to meet the requirement of rigorous methodological research procedure, the approach taken was based on reviewing exclusively renowned electronic scientific databases making it possible to access sources from across the globe (Wilding et al., 2012 ). The systematic literature review within scientific databases helped examine the real state of knowledge without assessing accessory sources and avoiding the criticism of a fragmentary approach (Schmid & Kotulla, 2011 ). In my review approach, I decided to concentrate only on academic literature, what was a part of a strategy to capture contextual information (Adams et al., 2017 ). Footnote 13

The research activity started with defining criteria of automated search for works in the said databases, setting the key term as legal technology, a scientific and industry (business) notion of the subject under examination. Aware, however, that the term is often abbreviated to ‘legal tech’, I decided to extend my search to be certain that the analysis of sources was comprehensive (Lodhi, 2016 ). Footnote 14 Importantly, the review procedure confirmed that either of the verbal categories generated different results; hence, the assumption made was justified methodologically.

Then research moved on to the phase of isolation of the inclusion criteria for the publications featuring in the databases, which allowed for assessment of their utility (Booth et al., 2012 ). The search was limited to publications: (1) strictly concerning the sector examined, thus entering the terms in inverted commas (as legal technology and legal tech) to ensure a precise selection of appropriate texts; (2) in English, the universal language of science; (3) available as full text ; and (4) peer-reviewed (Schutte & Steyn, 2015 ). Given the research questions posed, I did not introduce time restrictions, which let me examine the period and edition frequency.

Additionally, in order to fully examine the existing state of the knowledge on the subject, I decided not to narrow the publications down to those with the phrases examined only in the title or abstract. That approach facilitated a realistic assessment of the number of publications about the sector studied here without running the risk of overlooking valuable sources. The results of the first stage of the systematisation involved selecting works fit for inclusion thus allowing for eliminating double sources, those of accessory importance and in a non-English version.

“ Thematic Analysis of the Reference Repository ” section employs the method of thematic analysis, allowing for proving a correlation of the subject discussed here with the field of legal and management sciences. For a more extensive analysis of the reference repository (described in the “ Bibliometric Analysis ” section) and in order to discover a conceptual map, it was used a quantitative analysis method in the form of thematic analysis. Its key assumption is based on: ‘(…) identifying and describing both implicit and explicit ideas within the data that is themes’ (Guest et al., 2011 ), which makes it: ‘(…) a flexible and useful research tool, which can potentially provide a rich and detailed, yet complex account of data’ (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ).

These research methods have helped find answers to the following research questions (Parris & Peachey, 2013 ):

Does the topic of legal technology (legal tech) has a homogeneous or interdisciplinary character?

Are articles about legal technology (legal tech) published in scientific periodicals?

Over what period of time can scientific publications on legal technology (legal tech) be found?

What key research areas is the topic of legal technology (legal tech) linked to?

Is the matter of legal technology (legal tech) enjoying a growing or decreasing interest online?

Is there a geographical segmentation in terms of the popularity of legal technology (legal tech) online?

Bibliometric Analysis

Following the research path presented above and the first stage, as just discussed, a database of literature was created including 577 items. The second stage involved a selection of the included works, with 507 publications eliminated. That move involved ones that were duplicates, with no thematic link, non-English (in Russian or Portuguese) or referring to the subject examined only marginally (e.g. covering domestic violence) (Valverde, 2004 ). The correctness was verified by means of abstract review, thus keeping key sources directly related to the topic of legal technology (legal tech). Ultimately, the reference repository featured 70 records (see Table 1 ). Footnote 15

The results of the systematic literature review for legal technology and legal tech were solely based on an analysis limited to selected three databases of scientific sources (ProQuest, Ebsco, and JSTOR), to provide certainty in terms of the mode of their publication, review procedure, and methodological rigor (Conn et al., 2003 ). Disregarding ‘grey literature’ included in the Google Scholar database helped arrive at the reference repository composition reflecting the current state of the global body of research (Hempel et al., 2016 ). Still, in order to showcase the potential of the subject, I decided to add the last column to Table 1 with a quantitative list of publications available in the Google Scholar database narrowed down to selected inclusion criteria available there, hence the possibility to enter the terms in inverted commas, with at least one of the words and found anywhere in the article (Adams et al., 2017 ). The process generated 9530 records. Google Scholar, which includes scientific industry and popular science publications, constitutes (potentially) one of the richest records within the subject in question (Mahood et al., 2014 ). One can then assume that the topic is of major interest to publishers also outside of the scientific community. Still, this information is only supplementary and shows a research interest in the subject, without including Google Scholar records in the final reference repository.

Bibliometric Analysis Focused on the Year Publication

The systematic review of the literature concerning the subject within three scientific databases resulted in 70 scientific articles published in 1985–2019 (see Table 1 ) (Brereton et al., 2007 ). Consequently, the following stage of my research was an analysis of the number of publications in individual years, thus examining the trend related to scientists’ interest in the subject (see Chart 1 ).

The subject of ‘legal technology’ or ‘legal tech’ in academic publications. Source: Author’s own elaboration

As seen in the bar chart, the subject in question has been discussed in academic literature since the 1980s, starting from 1985. The mean value suggests a growing number of publications as well as an increasing interest shown by scientists in the topic. At the same time, it is worth noting that in the period from 1985 to 2019, the Google Scholar database includes 8110 records and 759 in 2019 alone. Footnote 16 Consequently, I believe that the subject is not new, because its beginnings date back to the 1980s, but only now the level of interest in it is visible, with a growing tendency.

Bibliometric Analysis Focused on the Selection of the Journal, Research Questions, and Keywords

Continuing the study of the obtained repository of 70 texts, I decided to analyse the collection in depth in terms of (1) the place of publication, i.e. the journals in which the authors published their texts; (2) the research questions and/or issues constituting the thematic core of the text; and (3) the selection of keywords assigned to each text.

Of the 70 sources selected, four were published in the American Bar Association’s journal The Judges’ Journal ([12], [13], [17], [25]). Three appeared in the journal Judicature published by the Bolch Judicial Institute Duke Law School ([01], [06], [08]) and in The Florida Bar Journal [50], [52], [53]). Two each were published in Family Law Quarterly ([09], [10]), Legal Information Management ([02], [21]), Artificial Intelligence and Law ([30], [31]), American Journal of Trial Advocacy ([44], [46]), In ternational Review of Law, Computers & Technology [35], [58]), University of Ottawa Press ([60], [61]), and Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies ([15], [63]). The remaining journals included one text each on a given topic: Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics [03], The Journal of Equipment Lease Financing [04], Future Internet [05], Technology Innovation Management Review [07], Iowa Law Review [11], International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care [14], Union of Jurists of Romanis Law Review [16], Systemic Practice and Action Research [18], Revista Direito GV [20], Northwestern University Law Review [22], Journal of Nursing Law [23], The Entrepreneurial Executive [24], Texas Law Review [26], Journal of Digital Asset Management [27], Information Systems Frontiers [28], Journal of Financial Service Professionals [29], Federal Communications Law Journal [33], International review of Law, Computers & Technology [35], IT Professional [36], International Financial Law Review [37], Daedalus [38], IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering [39], Journal of East Asia and International Law [40], Croatian International Relations Review [41], International Tax Review [42], University of Toronto Law Journal [43], American Journal of Trial Advocacy [44], Family Law Archive [45], Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law [47], University of Toledo Law Review [48], Circuits [51], Harvard Law & Policy Review [54], Touro Law Review [55], American Bar Association [56], Oxford Journal of Legal Studies [57], The Futurist [59], Columbia Law Review [62], Rand [64], The Supreme Court Review [65], Journal of Law and Society [66], Public Choice [67], Duke Law Journal [68], Yale Law & Policy Review [69], and Law & Social Inquiry [70].

Analysis of the repository in terms of the location of texts in journals revealed a relatively high level of fragmentation, yet legal technology topics are overwhelmingly within the scope of strictly legal publications (such as The Columbia Law Review ). There are also journals dealing with economics ( Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics ), management (e.g. Journal of Digital Asset Management ), innovation (e.g. Technology Innovation Management Review ), and IT (e.g. IT Professional ).

By examining the repository in terms of the research questions and keywords posed by the publications, it was possible to draw interesting conclusions about the main fields of interest of the researchers, as well as related topics. All 70 texts were grouped into 15 categories, according to the areas in which the authors posed their research questions and keywords. Thus, there is a predominance of issues covering the topic of legal service understood as changes occurring on the legal service market and within the profession (15 texts). In second place is the ‘technology’ category (14 texts), covering both IT topics and strictly technical aspects concerning the legal technology sector. Third place was taken by the ‘AI’ category (seven publications), which includes texts describing the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal services sector, both from a public and a private perspective. This was followed by the ‘civil justice’ category strictly covering aspects of the impact of legal technology and technology per se affecting the administration of justice.

Other categories included ‘legal information’ (four texts) dedicated to sources on legal information, ‘family law’ (four publications) dedicated to the specific field of family law, ‘legal education’ (three texts) including sources on the impact of the industry development on the education system and the need for its reform, ‘data analysis’ (three texts) covering the subject of data analysis which can be used in the field of legal technology, ‘blockchain’ (two texts) — dedicated to the implementation of this technique in the field of law, ‘regulators’ (two texts) — concerning the postulation of law regulation in selected areas, ‘tax law’ (two texts) — dealing strictly with the tax field, ‘healthcare industry’ (two sources) — the subject of the healthcare system, and ‘theory of law’ (two publications) — theoretical considerations in the light of the growing importance of the legal tech industry. The last two items — ‘IP law’ and ‘fintech’ — are examples of very specialised texts covering narrow fields; hence, their number is insignificant (Chart 2 ).

Key research areas and keywords related to ‘legal technology’ in academic publications. Source: Author’s own elaboration

To conclude this part of the research, legal technology is of interest mainly to lawyers and the legal services industry, as reflected in the vast majority of the repository texts published in legal journals. This sector clearly recognises the imminent (ongoing?) change that the implementation of technology is bringing in it. However, it can also be seen that technology, IT services, artificial intelligence, or data analysis, which were originally fields distant from legal sciences, are now becoming part of them. The future of the legal services sector is an interdisciplinary juxtaposition of classic legal sciences with entirely new areas. It is not only changing the existing legal service market, but also creating new IT services sectors, which makes this subject even more exciting and growing in topicality.

Thematic Analysis of the Reference Repository

As an auxiliary to content analysis, bibliometric studies allow for assessing individual features of a set. Their results show new knowledge that determines further directions of research as well as the need to use new research methods to analyse the available data more thoroughly (Nowell et al., 2017 ). Data analysis leading towards finding patterns (themes) helps acquire new information, and so perceive a new context of content acquired earlier as part of research questions posed at the preliminary stage (Braun & Clarke, 2012 ).

Themes can be interpreted using an inductive or deductive approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ). In my analysis, I used the former, based on examination of an entire data set (reference repository), to then look for thematic similarities between individual extracted codes, without assuming any preliminary theories (Clarke & Braun, 2013 ).

As the thematic analysis method is also subject to the rigor of a methodical research procedure, the further steps were strictly based on the recommendations by Virginia Braun and Victora Clarke (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ). Following the structure posited by the authors, they covered six stages (Table 2 ). Footnote 17

In phase one (Getting familiar with the data), I examined in detail the data selected at an earlier stage in the process of setting a reference repository. The process of repeated reading of all 70 articles aimed at actively looking for patterns and starting to develop guidelines as regards further content-coding (King, 2004 ; Nowell et al., 2017 ).

Verification of the frequency of appearance of keywords or derivative terms within a given thematic scope brings to life the existing links to other scientific disciplines (Huutoniemi et al., 2010 ). Because of the interdisciplinarity of the sector examined here, it is vital to understand its location on the map of scientific domains and correlation with individual ones. My analysis of data in their entirety let me conclude that only few publications featured the keyword category completed by the authors (Hjørland, 2001 ). Consequently, I decided to analyse the thematic categories to which a given publisher assigned each of the publications.

In phase two (Generating initial codes), I extracted from the ProQuest base data assigned to the category SUBJECT (39 records were analysed). Footnote 18 They included 194 terms (subjects). In the Ebsco base, where I analysed 20 texts, I took into account the category SUBJECT TERM, allowing me to select 106 items. Footnote 19 In the last database analysed, JSTOR, I took into consideration the TOPIC items (as no author assigned keywords to their publication), which resulted in 97 items. Footnote 20 The semantic extraction of terms suggesting the classification of a given article as falling within the topic examined (with all the texts in the reference repository) generated a list of 397 initial codes (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2011 ).

Further, in next phase (Searching for themes), I focused on my search for themes, i.e. sorting out the 397 codes, remembering that “(…) you can code individual extracts of data in as many different ‘themes’ as they fit into — so an extract may be uncoded, coded once, or coded many times, as relevant” (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ) (Chart 3 ).

Word frequency query results (based on a list of 397 codes). Source: Author’s own elaboration

Ones from ProQuest let me find nine themes: (1) Technology (57 codes), (2) Legal service (34 codes), (3) Others (33 codes), (4) Management (20 codes), (5) Legal system (17 codes), (6) Legal education (15 codes), (7) Criminal law (9 codes), (8) Family law (5 codes), and (9) Tax law (3 codes). I divided the codes of the articles found in the Ebsco database into eight themes: (1) Legal service (34 codes), (2) Technology (27 codes), (3) Legal education (12 codes), (4) Others (11 codes), (5) Management (8 codes), (6) Tax law (6 codes), (7) Legal system (6 codes), and (8) Family law (2 codes). Last but not least, I sorted the JSTOR data into seven themes: (1) Legal service (49 codes), (2) Others (18 codes), (3) Management (9 codes), (4) Technology (8 codes), (5) Legal system (7 codes), (6) Legal education (5 codes), and (7) Family law (1 code). The Other theme is a set: “(…) miscellaneous to house codes — possibly temporarily — that do not seem to fit into your main themes” (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ) (Chart 4 ).

Existence of codes within the 3 scientific databases. Source: Author’s own elaboration

The activities performed resulted in 397 codes. I divided that set into nine themes: (1) Legal service (117 codes), (2) Technology (92 codes), (3) Management (37 codes), (4) Others (62 codes), (5) Legal education (32 codes), (6) Legal system (31 codes), (7) Criminal law (9 codes), (8) Tax law (9 codes), and (9) Family law (8 codes) (Chart 5 ). Footnote 21

Initial thematic map showing 9 themes (with the number of assigned codes). Source: Author’s own elaboration

The ‘Reviewing themes’ stage included the reviewing and refining of the selected themes. Finding thematic links, or absence thereof, helped me draft the ultimate thematic map, featuring the following categories. Then, in the ‘Defining and naming themes’ phase, I renamed and redefined the ultimate 4 themes: (1) Legal service (206 codes), (2) Technology (92 codes), (3) Management (37 codes), and (4) Others (62 codes). In the theme ‘Legal service’, I located sub-categories: Legal system, Legal education, Criminal law, Family law, and Tax law.

The stages described above let me move swiftly to the final phase of ‘Producing the report’ (Cassell & Symon, 2004 ).

The most essential information stemming from the study performed helped me show correlations with the terminology of the discipline of management sciences as one of four key themes as well as confirm the interdisciplinary nature of the topic discussed. Confirmation of the interdisciplinary nature of the legal tech sector enables precise indication of the fields of science to which researchers dealing with a given topic should refer. Subsequent studies of a given industry should not ignore the state of knowledge of legal and management sciences as well as technological solutions.

Analysis of the Popularity of the Terms ‘Legal Technology’ or ‘Legal Tech’ (Google Trends)

The systematic literature review was supplemented by an analysis of the popularity of the terms examined using a commonly accessible analytical tool, Google Trends (Jun et al., 2018 ). It allows for monitoring popularity levels of terms of interest available online in the world’s most popular search engine, Google. Footnote 22 The data below obtained by means of Google Trends helped me specify the level of interest in individual concepts in the Google search process as well as their regionalisation (Ouellette, 2014 ). That information supplements the knowledge about the existence of trends related to the matter at hand (Heyman, 2015 ). Footnote 23

Using the Google Trends tool, I showed the following parameters: the entire world and the period from 1 January 2004 to 12 November 2019. Additionally, I decided not to make the categories more precise, this avoiding a thematic narrowing-down, of particular importance given the interdisciplinary nature of the subject scope between IT, business, law and, as mentioned before, legal service, technology, and management (López-Cózar et al., 2018 ). The Google Trends tool confirmed the dominant frequency of queries for the term legal technology (38/100 on average) over its abbreviated version legal tech (24/100 on average). Also, a growing trend was found for the popularity of legal tech starting from December 2015 (see Chart 6 ).

Summary of popularity of the terms ‘legal technology’ (light grey) and ‘legal tech’ (dark grey) found by Google Trends. Source: Google Trends: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=legal%20technology,legal%20tech

Based on the percentage values calculated for searches of the two terms in question across the world, an interesting regularity was observed. Footnote 24 Namely, in the countries of the common law system as well as ones whose legal systems feature some of its aspects, the search for legal technology is dominant (USA — 52%, Canada — 62%, Australia — 78%, UK — 72%, India — 75%, or South Africa — 81%). At the same time, in the countries of the continental legal system legal tech is considerably more frequently searched in Google (Germany — 87%, France — 79%, Poland — 100%, or Russia — 100%). Footnote 25 A higher level of use of the term legal tech in the countries of the common law system (and the term legal technology in the countries of the civil law system) provides relevant information necessary for further research on the subject.

The Google Trends tool also allowed for defining the highest levels of popularity attached to the terms legal technology and legal tech within the timeframe in question, i.e. from 1 January 2004 to 12 November 2019 divided per country. The values are presented in the table below on a 0 to 100 scale, where the maximum number stands for the location where the term was searched for most frequently out of all searches (within a given location) and 50 stands for the location with the term’s popularity twice lower. Footnote 26 To illustrate the geographical distribution, I opted for showing only the first five of the countries interested (in both terms examined) (Table 3 ).

The results suggest that Singapore is a country where the popularity level of the topic discussed here is considerable, as it ranks high second, for both forms of the term. Further, the emerging market of African countries seems to express an interest, too, as evidenced by the presence of as many as three states from Africa on the legal technology list. A wide range of countries in both columns suggests the need to use appropriate terminology when researching the field of our interest here.

Conclusions

The paper analyses the current state of research concerning the matter of legal technology. The work is conducted through a systematic literature review, bibliometric, and thematic analysis.

The bibliometric analysis may be auxiliary as real research work on issues should not be limited to just numbers and ought to evaluate content. However, presenting a current list of literature on a given subject and offering an assessment of selected features of that set in a single place allowed me for using correct terminology, defining directions for further research efforts, and finding research gaps. The systematic literature review has helped capture in a single place the actual state of academic publications on legal technology, identify the legal tech industry’s potential, and take note of the growing interest in the subject matter (Ratinho et al., 2020 ). The superimposition of two images: one showing the number of academic publications in the period 1985–2019 (Chart 1 ) and the other the interest in the terms examined here in the Google search engine (Chart 6 ), clearly shows that starting from 2014 the interest in legal technology is constantly growing, both in science and elsewhere.

At the same time, the process of reference repository building proved that searches for legal technology or legal tech (within scientific databases) could render misleadingly high results for the number of publications. After their qualitative verification, it turned out that the set included many publications not content-linked with the sector in question, which shows a broad context of using terms in many scientific domains, such as research on domestic violence, culture, or the history of feminist movements (Padoongpatt, 2015 ; Sreenivas, 2015 ; Valverde, 2004 ).

The thematic analysis method has confirmed the interdisciplinary context of the sector examined, finding patterns (themes) within thematic terms present for each of the analysed publications from the reference repository. Consequently, the conclusion is that the legal technology industry can be an object of research in terms of technological solutions, the legal service sector, and management systems.

The paper’s originality involves identifying (1) the current state of academic literature on legal technology, (2) a different approach to the use of a term legal tech and legal technology in the countries of the common law and continental law systems, (3) rising level of popularity of terms legal tech and legal technology online, (4) an interdisciplinary context of a matter of legal technology, and (5) implications whether legal technology should be analysed from the perspective of its influence on the whole legal sector.

The qualitative analysis of the content of the set examined exposed numerous research gaps that can be helpful for future research directions. The key ones being (1) the absence of a systematic literature review for the terms legal technology and legal tech in ‘grey literature’, (2) the absence of research concerning the economic and social impact of legal technology on the legal service market, and (3) the absence of studies examining the legal service market transformation process evident in the form of the commonly observed phenomena of service commodification or servitisation (Bhimani et al., 2019 ).

The conducted research was limited only to the examination of the potential of interest in the given topic within the indicated time period, mainly within scientific literature, which is its limitation. Another extremely interesting source important source for the development of science is sources of grey literature, which, especially in the context of the subject under study, are gaining much importance. Numerous publications, industry reports, or surveys of private institutions provide a wealth of relevant data on the researched legal tech market and do not fall within the scope of scientific literature. Therefore, for future development, in the next stages of the research it is worthwhile looking strictly at industry reports allowing analysis of the legal tech sector in individual countries, examining their specific features and important differences.

Importantly for the continuation of research in the area indicated, it is worth looking into the examination of the process of digitalisation of legal services. It is possible to carry out a systematic literature review of this concept, which would allow for answering the same research questions, yet in a new context, i.e. the timeline of occurrence of scientific articles on a given topic, key areas in relation to a given topic, growing or declining interest in it, or geographical segmentation. Overlaying the information obtained would facilitate the formulation of assumptions in terms of further directions of change, new areas of interest, and finding key areas related to both the topics of digitisation of legal services and legal tech.

Report World Bank. The Changing Nature of Work, World Bank 2019. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/816281518818814423/2019-WDR-Report.pdf . (9 November 2019, date last accessed).

In this article, the terms ‘legal technology’ and ‘legal tech’ are used as synonyms. In their scope, they cover IT solutions dedicated for the legal services sector. A separate thematic category is ‘law tech’ which refers to IT tools designed solely for consumers.

Report Litify, ‘Law 2.0 The Disruptors, Innovators, and the Laggards Who May Be Left Behind’, Litify 2019. https://www.litify.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Law2.0-Litify.pdf (9 November 2019, date last accessed).

Legal Services Market by Types (B2B Legal Services, B2C Legal Services, Criminal Law Practices and Hybrid Commercial Legal Services), By Size, By Practice, By Key Players And By End Users—Global Forecast To 2023 (12 February 2020, date last accessed). Deloitte report ‘Developing Legal Talent. Stepping into the Future Law Firm’, Deloitte 2016. https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/audit/articles/developing-legal-talent.html (9 November 2019, date last accessed).

The website of the research project Stanford Law School’s LegalTech : https://techindex.law.stanford.edu . When the project was launched in November 2017, the list of global legal tech firms included 750 entities. In October 2021, there are 1816 of them.

The increasing number of publications is described in Part 3.

In my future research work, I intend to analyse industry (business) reports (on legal technology) that are sources of ‘grey literature’, thus enabling a comparison with the results published in this article.

In source literature, the terms legal tech , legal technology , law tech , legal IT , or legal informatics are used interchangeably, as confirmed by a review of all the sources included in the repository.

The following part of the article includes a detailed explanation of the systematic literature review process which allowed for the creation of the said text repository.

At the end of each of the isolated categories, I indicate examples of texts from the repository which fit in with its specific aspects.

In the entire repository, merely a single text based on empirical studies was identified and acknowledged in a relevant footnote.

European Parliament resolution of 20 October 2020 with recommendations to the Commission on a framework of ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2020-0275_EN.html .

I have ultimately decided to choose three acknowledged (electronic) scientific databases (ProQuest, Ebsco, JSTOR) as selective literature reviews including selected journals or thematic categories could fail to offer a complete picture of the current state of academic publications, increasing often of an interdisciplinary nature. I was able to access those databases thanks to a license agreement of my University between 2 and 26 November 2019.

The said approach to search criteria identification complies with the principles of investigation triangulation, allowing for a higher level of reliability and transparency of the entire research process. The entered formula is the following: ProQuest and Ebsco—(‘legal technology’) OR (‘legal tech’), and JSTOR—(‘legal technology’) OR (‘legal tech’)).

See Appendix Reference repository.

Until 21 November 2019, Google Scholar offers 21 publications of 2019 with the term ‘legal technology’ in the title and 35 ones with ‘legal tech’.

The stage of coding has been performed using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) – NVIVO.

‘Subject’ definition used in ProQuest database: “The ProQuest Thesaurus is used to index the ProQuest Central subject field. A thesaurus is an alphabetical listing of all the subject terms in a single database, used to classify and organize information for that database”. https://proquest.libguides.com/pqc/fields (02 December 2019, date last accessed). 39 records in ProQuest database were analysed as only authors of 11 articles indicated their keywords.

Subject term’ used in Ebsco database: “subject terms that are assigned to describe the content of an article”. https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/Advanced-Searching-with-CINAHL-Subject-Headings?language=en_US (02 December 2019, date last accessed). “EBSCO maintains a Comprehensive Subject Index (CSI) of subject terms, which are applied to all articles indexed by EBSCO”. https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/How-does-EBSCO-create-subject-headings-for-EBSCOhost-articles?language=en_US (02 December 2019, date last accessed). 20 records in Ebsco database were analyses as only authors of 4 articles indicated their keywords.

‘Topic’ used in JSTOR database: “topics are terms sourced from the JSTOR Thesaurus, a taxonomy built from 17 + controlled vocabularies that is integrated with the JSTOR platform”. https://about.jstor.org/platform-features/topics-on-jstor/ (02 December 2019, date last accessed). 11 records in JSTOR database were analysed while none of the authors indicated their keywords.

The bulky Other category includes such terms as: diabetic retinopathy, genomes, sequencing, genic resources, nurses, hospitals, political parties, and anthropology, which are not logically linked.

Worldwide desktop market share of leading search engines from January 2010 to July 2019: https://www.statista.com/statistics/216573/worldwide-market-share-of-search-engines/ (12 November 2019, date last accessed).

The compilation could be usefully complemented with information on the presence of specific words over the set period in the collection of books from Google Books, featuring more than 25 million items, as enabled by the Google Ngram tool. Its important methodological limitation is the temporal narrowing down of its results to only 1800–2008 (book publication date), which in the case of the subject at hand considerably narrows down the research field, although it does show the existing trends. Googl Ngram has several limitations that influence the reliability of the results. The Google Books catalogue includes considerably many academic sources, which partly distorts the results, yet is an interesting complementary source of knowledge at the level of preliminary source review. Source Google Ngram: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=legal+technology&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=50&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Clegal%20technology%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blegal%20technology%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BLegal%20Technology%3B%2Cc0#t4%3B%2Clegal%20technology%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Blegal%20technology%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BLegal%20Technology%3B%2Cc0 . (12 November 2019, date last accessed).

As regards the Google Trends tool, the popularity of the term searched is proportional to the overall number of Google searches made over a given time in a given location.

Source – Google Trends: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=legal%20technology,legal%20tech .

Information on the data collection system in Google Trends: https://support.google.com/trends/?hl=en#topic=6248052 .

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Mania, K. Legal Technology: Assessment of the Legal Tech Industry’s Potential. J Knowl Econ 14 , 595–619 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-022-00924-z

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While change can be hard in the legal industry, legal professionals now find themselves in a position to embrace newer, perhaps unfamiliar technologies to support a growing number of online court services.

In response to the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world have had to adapt to the challenges presented by this unprecedented situation, perhaps some better than others. While a critical transition from traditional court proceedings to an online mode has allowed justice to continue in many jurisdictions, courts and legal professionals are now tasked with the added responsibility of adopting new and somewhat unfamiliar technologies in the face of an ever-changing legal landscape.

Change can be hard. The justice system and its pre-pandemic resistance to technology are prime examples of a sector that is extremely careful to make hastily changes. However, law professionals and individuals needing legal services are looking to technology to help them safely resume work and secure legal support in the ongoing face of COVID-19. In an effort to explore how the pandemic has changed the courts perception and use of technology, as well as to address issues of access to the courts, ABC Legal Services held a webinar on the topic of legal technology and its growing impact on access to the legal system. The webinar was hosted by the company’s Training and Communication Specialist, Tomas Campomanes. The panelists included Radley Angelo, Head of Customer Success at ABC Legal, Brandon Fuller, Chief Technology Officer at ABC Legal and President of Docketly and me, Sascha Mehlhase, VP of Products at ABC Legal.  

Radley Angelo kicked off our discussion providing an overview of natural language processing (NLP) and its role in the legal industry. In its simplest definition, NLP is a type of software that allows computers to read text or language quickly. NLP deployments in the document and text-heavy legal sector can help legal professionals quickly work through contracts or other legal documents. The technology provides valuable insight and analytics to the reader, including the ability to summarize common clauses and if they varied from standard phrases. Scalable deployments of NLP in the legal sector can predict many concepts, which can help improve efficiency in staff hours and paralegal time. The potential of NLP in the legal sector is just getting started. Radley finished the topic by stating it is exciting to see this is where the industry is trending with this technology as we more closely embrace insights and intelligence.  

From there, Brandon Fuller went into discussion on the wide uses of machine learning (ML) technology inside artificial intelligence (AI). Brandon discussed how machine learning isn’t really about machines, but how humans can better do their jobs with the aid of machines. Brandon stated, “Basically you can have a human do it, a machine ‘watches’ and then the machine repeats the pattern and detects things at a larger scale by remembering what you did. If you aren’t quite sure what causes something, you can feed the machine a variety of data and it will find the correlations for you.”  

The legal sector’s initial ML deployments were seen in the backend for invoice and billing. Now, legal professionals can leverage ML to help identify and analyze large volumes of data from the courts, and from there, dictate what tasks and workflows need to be moved through. With ML, a machine can perform tasks at record speed with exceptional efficiency, for example, law professionals can use ML for document review where the technology reviews a large file to find patterns, as well as varieties of service rates and service probabilities. Brandon advised with the additional use of ML technology, a large amount of employee work can be done digitally –making their jobs more efficient and effective, which directly impacts the customer’s experience by having a quick and positive interaction.

In an industry that has been stereotyped as older and slower, ML and NLP’s ability to improve productivity and safely enhance processes will ultimately improve industry perception and other legal professionals’ willingness to adopt these tools.  

It was then my turn to round out the conversation on trending technology by providing some easy to adopt solutions. While e-filing and deep skip aren’t new, the pandemic has created a greater need for them as courts quickly look to adapt. “Ease of use” is a particularly important element to address with legal technology adoption. Given the industry has been hesitant to integrate more modern processes, teeing up solutions that are simple to integrate and use, are important if we want to see widespread and lasting technology in the sector. The webinar discussion tackled the topic of ease of use with legal service technologies such as deep skip and e-filing services. Internationally, courts started the transition to e-filing on a much larger scale before the pandemic. What we’re seeing now as courts continue to adapt to these technologies is a “new normal” of process automation where there is an expanding number of jurisdictions in the United States relying heavily on the use of technology. I elaborated that while some courts are stuck in paper and behind in their caseloads, those courts that have adapted to e-filing technology are avoiding the massive backlog and providing greater access to the courts than their paper-filing counterparts.

The panel then turned to how certain habits by legal professionals are easy to adapt to the use of technology, which is not a typically widespread perception and a reason for the historical hesitance to integrate technology. We discussed the availability of tools that can help keep professionals organized, especially during tough economic times. One of these tools includes robotic process automation (RPA), which Brandon explained as “not about robots—but rather about helping people become more like robots in the efficiency of their actions. RPA comes to life through the tools on desktops, to record activities individuals are doing, moving data from one system to another. RPA tools are allowing people to point and click on their desktop and repeat at a very quick speed without doing unnecessary tasks —computers take over these steps and by doing the work, they increase productivity.”

Diving deeper into the impacts of legal technology adoption is court access and changing perception of courts from a “place” to a “service.” When the pandemic started, it shut down almost all courts operations on a global level. Now courts are open again and looking to adopt different technologies such as telephone-based systems and video conferencing to resume services. In New York, for example, the criminal courts moved to all-conferencing systems. The wide use of video conferencing and adaptations in the US justice system is an exciting development, however not unique to the United States. China started transitioning to this system in 2016 and was already well prepared for e-filing and videoconferencing during the pandemic. Their advanced system allowed consumers to digitally input information on their cases and predict the outcome of litigations. The flexibility provided by these digital legal tools help mitigate the need to pause operations and as a result, shut citizens off from access to important legal support. Lastly, Brandon added that similar to schools and churches, courts’ usage of video conferencing and audio technologies has allowed for proliferation, allowing these professionals to gain wider reach and systems.  

Despite the successful integrations of legal technology across the industry, it is still a learning process and privacy is a key concern. Courts are learning how to set up a framework for safe judicial procedures, but for some it’s still a struggle. One early successful use case was the tool, “Court Call.” This service was an early adopter and helped judicial systems adapt and learn how to utilize technology in the court at a rapid pace.

As referenced above, as more and more legal firms invest in tech, such as digital document management, they see their customer service rates go higher. The benefits of utilizing an all-digital document management system and the value of apps for process servers allowing for e-signatures, providing e-filing back to the court, and electronically documenting throughout the process of serving papers and updating customers in real-time helps improve experiences.

Brandon noted that remote attorney services also use a mobile app for lawyers as well as digital document management for clients internally and externally. The panel agreed that the pandemic has helped to advance app-based tools and move them in the right direction for the legal industry.  

It’s important to note that the legal process is growing much closer to tools and apps we are used to seeing in our everyday lives, which makes life easier. The same is true for the legal industry, and adaption is critical. The more transparency and collaboration across processes by looking at things holistically, the more in-line legal services become with other products we interact with in our day-to-day lives.

In addition to improving customer experiences, technology can improve the relationships with clients. Radley said, “Legal professionals interact with customers at various touch points, and today you can truly get a hold of a business in so many ways. Given the current business environment, it’s never been more important to be able to manage those communications, adapt and use customer relationship management tools.”  

As the industry evaluates how to adopt technologies, it is important to note that these decisions about adopting technology should be driven by the client’s expectations. From the client’s perspective, a good lawyer is also a lawyer who adopts tech to communicate and update, as well as sets realistic expectations on case outcomes for their clients. Law firms can adopt technology to manage client relationships. For example, they can use the insight gathered from data, to gain valuable knowledge on the full life-cycle of any given case, best approaches to argue in front of a judge and manage all aspects of communications with clients and their customers. Technology can play a large role in customer satisfaction, as it directly impacts the health and longevity of attorney/client relationships. Radley noted that, “if technology can remove a multitude of friction points for customers, some easy to use, some even free, you’re more likely to have a customer for life.”

While change can be hard in the legal industry, legal professionals now find themselves in a position to embrace newer, perhaps unfamiliar technologies to support a growing number of online court services. However, challenging these changes may seem, they also present an opportunity to improve upon resources and quality of service offered to clients. There is a silver lining to all of this; legal tech has seen a transformational shift with the introduction of machine learning, automation, AI, innovative apps and the expanded use of technology for legal services in the courts. This shift provides additional opportunities for legal professionals, law firms and legal departments to implement substantial improvements related to efficiency, productivity, security and marketability.

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The Relevance of Technology in Courts of Law Essay

Introduction, the relevance of technology in courts of law, case studies where technology was used in courts, analysis of the cases, works cited.

The role of science is becoming more prominent in the current legal proceedings in Australia and many other countries across the world. According to Moriarty (48), there are various cases where criminals have been let free due to lack of evidence in court. This scholar says that it is challenging to prove charges against an individual, especially when the plaintiff is the only witness against the defendant. Courts of law are always bound by the law they interpret, and by ethics to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a crime, and therefore, is guilty as charged. Because of this, there are instances where criminals have walked into freedom despite having committed crimes they are charged for in the courts. These unfortunate states of affairs have affected many victims of such crimes as they consider that there is no justice in the courts. For this reason, efforts have been made to ensure that such cases are eliminated. Technology has come out as a perfect solution in fixing such problems by using CCTV camera footage. This technological invention has become very common in the current courts as it is considered to give expert witness in cases where there is insufficient witness against the accused (Fabri 34). This research will focus on the use of technology, especially the use of CCTV camera footage in courts of law as an expert witness against accused persons.

According to Cerrillo (24), the world is rapidly changing due to changes taking place in the field of technology. Emerging technologies have redefined various approaches to undertaking various social issues in society. The legal proceedings have not been spared either with these changes brought about by the emerging technologies. The need to give justice to those seeking it has driven various players in this field to look for ways of proving that an accused is either guilty or innocent of the charges. The solution has come with the invention of the CCTV cameras (Reiling 71). When they were first introduced, this technology was a preserve for large companies and wealthy individuals who used it as a way of boosting their security. However, this technology has become very common in homes and business premises due to its reduced prices. Courts are now accepting CCTV camera footage as part of the evidence against a crime that is presented before it. There are a number of cases where courts have fully relied on CCTV camera footage to make judgments (Arrigo 78). The discussion below gives a series of cases where decisions were made based on the CCTV camera footage presented before the courts.

Case Study 1

Mr. Miller, a 55-year-old man who owned a dance costume business in the city of Bristol, was concerned that a particular trespasser was tossing several plastic bags containing excrement of a dog into his compound. Mr. Miller reported the matter to the police but they could not act, stating that there was no suspect in the case. The trespass continued, and so Mr. Miller decided to make a purchase of a Do-It-Yourself video surveillance kit at $ 400. He was convinced that the culprit must be a neighbor because he did a perfect timing when Mr. Miller had left the compound. He left the system to run for a month to capture the activities of the neighbor who had turned this into a habit. Video footage taken for a period of one month revealed clearly one of Mr. Miller’s neighbors regularly tossing several bags full of feces of the dog into the compound of Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller presented the video footage to the community security patrol who subsequently arrested the neighbor.

In this case, Mr. Miller had the video footage and his suspicion given the number of dogs the defendant owned in the neighborhood as the only witness. The defendant accepted the fact that the person captured on the camera was he, but denied the fact that he did this intentionally and regularly. A keen analysis of the presented video footage proved that on all the occasions, he would come to dump the feces immediately after the departure of Mr. Miller. The footage also confirmed to the court that his sole intention of coming to Mr. Miller’s yard was to damp the wastes because he would return through the same route. The mischievous smiles and the fact that he would watch his back before and after committing the offense convinced the courts that his actions were deliberate and that he was fully aware of the consequences. The court’s verdict was a fine to the defendant and he was ordered to clear all the garbage he had slung into Mr. Miller’s compound. He was further instructed to pay Mr. Miller for damages caused by his unlawful acts (Murphy D1).

Case Study 2

Another case where video surveillance was used to capture criminal deeds involved Adam Kliebert and Woody Densen. Mr. Kliebert, a 41-year-old real estate developer, was concerned that someone was scratching the back of his Range Rover with some metallic object, forcing him to make costly repairs regularly. He suspected Mr. Densen, a retired state district judge, who had the tendency of passing behind the car very regularly in their shared compound. Given the stature of Mr. Densen in this society and the respect Mr. Kliebert had for him, he did not believe that he could do such an unethical act given that he knew the consequences.

When the act did not stop, Mr. Kliebert mounted a CCTV camera in strategic positions to capture the culprit. He presented the video footage to the police who then arrested Mr. Densen. When presented before the district magistrate, Mr. Densen accepted that he was responsible for the acts he was accused of before the court. He was fined for the crime. The evidence provided to the court clearly showed how he would pass behind the car, make a deep scratch at its back, and quickly hide the metallic object. The evidence was so clear that Mr. Densen and his lawyer, Mr. Robert Pelton, could do very little to deny the charges. The court ordered Mr. Densen to pay Mr. Kliebert $ 3000 for the damage caused. The verdict was reached in April 2009 (Murphy D1).

The two cases presented above have a similar trend in that the jury based their decision on the expert witness presented before them in the form of video footage (Pattavina 67). The defendants, having seen how well the cameras captured their acts, were overwhelmed and could not deny the charges. The form of defense they could make was the intent of their actions. However, the video surveillance presented confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that they were responsible for the acts. In the two cases, it is clear that the concern of the jury was to determine the individual responsible for the act, and not the intent of the act. This means that once the court was able to prove that they were guilty of the crimes against them, then they were to bear the consequences of their acts. In both cases, the culprits could not convince the courts that their acts were not malicious. In the first case, the look on the neighbor’s face and the way he would act before and after dumping, the garbage clearly showed mischief. In the second case, the speed with which Mr. Densen would scratch the car and hide the metallic object he used demonstrated that he was fully aware that he was acting illegally.

Historically, there were disputes as to the ability of video surveillance to be used in courts as part of the witness (Brownsword 80). There was a belief that such videos could be fabricated in order to accuse an individual falsely. However, with advanced technology, it has now become possible for the courts to determine the authenticity of the video footage presented before them. This has made them more acceptable in courts.

The two case studies clearly demonstrate that technology currently plays an important role in court proceedings. Video surveillance has become common in courts as a way of confirming that a given act was committed or omitted by a given individual, which makes him or her guilty as charged. Given the reduced cost of this surveillance kit, its usage in courts is perceived to be more common in the future.

Arrigo, Bruce. Introduction to Forensic Psychology: Issues and Controversies in Crime and Justice . Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005. Print.

Brownsword, Roger. Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century: Text and Materials . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Print.

Cerrillo, Fabra. E-justice: Information and Communication Technologies in the Court System . Hershey: Information Science Reference, 2009. Print.

Fabri, Marco. Justice and Technology in Europe: How ICT Is Changing the Judicial Business . Boston: Kluwer Law International, 2001. Print.

Moriarty, Laura. Criminal Justice Technology in the 21st Century . Springfield: Charles Thomas, 2005. Print.

Murphy, Kate. “Neighborhood Mischief Caught on Tape.” International New York Times 3 Nov. 2010: D1. Print.

Pattavina, April. Information Technology and the Criminal Justice System . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2005. Print.

Reiling, Dory. Technology for Justice: How Information Technology Can Support Judicial Reform . Amsterdam: Leiden University Press, 2009. Print.

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"A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols".

The modern world Is connected and supported by the use of the Internet, It has become a dependent tool In the workplace, an essential key to sourcing Information and sharing It. In some cases, the Internet can become subject to misuse by Individuals. Misuse of this technology and the information accessible to online users can cause potential harm varying in severity.From spam, to cyber-stalking, the legal implications of various internet-related offences can result in fines and Jail sentences.

The purpose of the internet is to provide, and share information and data between computers. International boundaries are no longer a concern, which proves to be as useful as it is dangerous. Internet users all over the globe are able to act and figuratively hide behind their screens, with the use of anonymity. Anonymity poses a risk on the world wide web, users are able to create their own persona, develop and transfer data without an Identity, and even pose as another.The internet may be issued by an Individual through the use of anonymity. Untraceable viruses and bots can be created and spread through the wide synapses of the net, transferred from computer to computer through e-mail, downloading malicious files, and unauthorized access of ones personal computer, known as hacking.

Another misuse of the internet is the act of copying someone's work and claiming it as your own, also known as plagiarism. With thousands of documents, files and information readily available across the web on various websites, stealing another's work is as simple as a copy ND paste.Plagiarism and copyright infringement are similar, but not the same. Copyright infringement Is a violation of the rights of a copyright holder, when material restricted by copyright is used without consent. On the other hand, the moral concept of plagiarism is concerned with the unearned increment to the popularizing author's reputation that Is achieved through false claims of authorship. Plagiarism Is not Illegal towards the author, but towards the reader, patron or teacher.

Even when copyright has expired, false claims of authorship may still institute plagiarism.The internet's impact on society is far greater than almost any other modern technology. In recent years, it has developed into much more than a fad, it has become a necessity. Almost every man, woman, and even child in third world countries are in the grasp of the internet and it's features. With the emergence of smart phones and social networking, accessing and using online information is literally at our fingertips.

Online social networking sites are the basis of modern communication, linking Individuals all over the globe.Websites, video chats, and orgasm developed for long distance communication such as Keep allow users to view, hear, and communicate with others, regardless of where they are. As the use of handwritten letters, telephone calls and faxing diminishes. The popularity of online hardware and software. The beneficial aspects of the internet are tremendous, supplying individuals with necessary information, entertainment, and storage flexible to one's requirements.

However, the impact of the internet on the individual may be damaging. As social networking sites increase, as does issues such as cyber-bullying, Weber-stalking, and identity theft.Cyber-bullying has emerged among the younger generation subject to the evolving technology. Those affected by cyber-bullying are generally the youth that engage in online communications and networking, the abuse may escalate to harassment and can result in law suits, and psychological trauma on the targeted individual. Cabinetmaking is different from spatial or offline stalking in that it occurs through the use of electronic communications technology such as the internet. However, it sometimes leads to it, or is accompanied by it.

Both are criminal offenses.Identity theft occurs when someone uses another's personally identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. Obtaining an individuals personal information through the internet has become increasingly easier with the use of scams and viruses. Internet crimes have soared in the past few years, with the increasing ease of access to several personal networks. Individual internet users are allowed three basic rights. The right to freedom of speech, the right to development, and the right to freedom of assembly.

The right toInternet access is closely linked to the right of freedom of speech which can be seen to encompass freedom of expression too. The internet is a canvas for ideas, discussions and expressing opinions. On various forums, channels, profiles and texts, there is often the option to leave your own comment, or post a review. Expressing beliefs, theories and propositions on the internet leaves individuals susceptible to feedback, retaliation and criticism. The increasing access to technology such as mobile phones has already proven to provide developing nations with further economic development opportunities.Increasing access to the Internet can, for example, improve low income individuals' access to financial services such as savings accounts and enable online trading.

As technology progresses, we see a revolution in the way people interact. Today we are seeing an increase in the relevance of internet and the right right to freedom of assembly. Even signing an online petition has been known to cause arrests and the internet has become a useful tool in the organization of protest movements and demonstrations. While the precise structure of the future Internet is not yet clear, many directions of Roth seem apparent.

One is the increased availability of wireless access. Wireless services enable applications not previously possible in any economical fashion. For example, global positioning systems (GAPS) combined with wireless Internet access would help mobile users to locate alternate routes, generate precise accident reports and initiate recovery services, and improve traffic management and congestion control. In addition to wireless laptop computers and personal digital assistants (Pads), wearable devices with voice input and special display glasses are under development.The impact the internet has on an individual may vary due to aspects internet is used by the individual.

As the technology evolves and produces more advanced aspects and features, society moves with it. As social networking booms, the laws that exist for this technology may require reformation. Some legislators and commentators have considered ways to eliminate, or at least alleviate, the problems associated with the disclosure of personal information by engaging in social networking. It is also debatable whether stopping certain individuals from engaging in online social networking is the most appropriate regulatory approach.Online social networks have become an integral part of the way in which we express themselves and communicate with each other.

The maximum effect of the internet is actually on the daily life of the individuals because indeed there is no aspect of life which is not influenced by the internet and its uses. In this new world there is no geographical separation and there are no borders, and all people are encouraged to participate and contribute drawing on their experiences and resources. In cyberspace actions and reactions are essentially instantaneous, and this is why the internet is so gratifying and attractive.

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What the data says about abortion in the U.S.

Pew Research Center has conducted many surveys about abortion over the years, providing a lens into Americans’ views on whether the procedure should be legal, among a host of other questions.

In a  Center survey  conducted nearly a year after the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision that  ended the constitutional right to abortion , 62% of U.S. adults said the practice should be legal in all or most cases, while 36% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. Another survey conducted a few months before the decision showed that relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the issue .

Find answers to common questions about abortion in America, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, which have tracked these patterns for several decades:

How many abortions are there in the U.S. each year?

How has the number of abortions in the u.s. changed over time, what is the abortion rate among women in the u.s. how has it changed over time, what are the most common types of abortion, how many abortion providers are there in the u.s., and how has that number changed, what percentage of abortions are for women who live in a different state from the abortion provider, what are the demographics of women who have had abortions, when during pregnancy do most abortions occur, how often are there medical complications from abortion.

This compilation of data on abortion in the United States draws mainly from two sources: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Guttmacher Institute, both of which have regularly compiled national abortion data for approximately half a century, and which collect their data in different ways.

The CDC data that is highlighted in this post comes from the agency’s “abortion surveillance” reports, which have been published annually since 1974 (and which have included data from 1969). Its figures from 1973 through 1996 include data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and New York City – 52 “reporting areas” in all. Since 1997, the CDC’s totals have lacked data from some states (most notably California) for the years that those states did not report data to the agency. The four reporting areas that did not submit data to the CDC in 2021 – California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey – accounted for approximately 25% of all legal induced abortions in the U.S. in 2020, according to Guttmacher’s data. Most states, though,  do  have data in the reports, and the figures for the vast majority of them came from each state’s central health agency, while for some states, the figures came from hospitals and other medical facilities.

Discussion of CDC abortion data involving women’s state of residence, marital status, race, ethnicity, age, abortion history and the number of previous live births excludes the low share of abortions where that information was not supplied. Read the methodology for the CDC’s latest abortion surveillance report , which includes data from 2021, for more details. Previous reports can be found at  stacks.cdc.gov  by entering “abortion surveillance” into the search box.

For the numbers of deaths caused by induced abortions in 1963 and 1965, this analysis looks at reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. In computing those figures, we excluded abortions listed in the report under the categories “spontaneous or unspecified” or as “other.” (“Spontaneous abortion” is another way of referring to miscarriages.)

Guttmacher data in this post comes from national surveys of abortion providers that Guttmacher has conducted 19 times since 1973. Guttmacher compiles its figures after contacting every known provider of abortions – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, and it provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond to its inquiries. (In 2020, the last year for which it has released data on the number of abortions in the U.S., it used estimates for 12% of abortions.) For most of the 2000s, Guttmacher has conducted these national surveys every three years, each time getting abortion data for the prior two years. For each interim year, Guttmacher has calculated estimates based on trends from its own figures and from other data.

The latest full summary of Guttmacher data came in the institute’s report titled “Abortion Incidence and Service Availability in the United States, 2020.” It includes figures for 2020 and 2019 and estimates for 2018. The report includes a methods section.

In addition, this post uses data from StatPearls, an online health care resource, on complications from abortion.

An exact answer is hard to come by. The CDC and the Guttmacher Institute have each tried to measure this for around half a century, but they use different methods and publish different figures.

The last year for which the CDC reported a yearly national total for abortions is 2021. It found there were 625,978 abortions in the District of Columbia and the 46 states with available data that year, up from 597,355 in those states and D.C. in 2020. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 607,720.

The last year for which Guttmacher reported a yearly national total was 2020. It said there were 930,160 abortions that year in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, compared with 916,460 in 2019.

• How the CDC gets its data: It compiles figures that are voluntarily reported by states’ central health agencies, including separate figures for New York City and the District of Columbia. Its latest totals do not include figures from California, Maryland, New Hampshire or New Jersey, which did not report data to the CDC. ( Read the methodology from the latest CDC report .)
• How Guttmacher gets its data: It compiles its figures after contacting every known abortion provider – clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices – in the country. It uses questionnaires and health department data, then provides estimates for abortion providers that don’t respond. Guttmacher’s figures are higher than the CDC’s in part because they include data (and in some instances, estimates) from all 50 states. ( Read the institute’s latest full report and methodology .)

While the Guttmacher Institute supports abortion rights, its empirical data on abortions in the U.S. has been widely cited by  groups  and  publications  across the political spectrum, including by a  number of those  that  disagree with its positions .

These estimates from Guttmacher and the CDC are results of multiyear efforts to collect data on abortion across the U.S. Last year, Guttmacher also began publishing less precise estimates every few months , based on a much smaller sample of providers.

The figures reported by these organizations include only legal induced abortions conducted by clinics, hospitals or physicians’ offices, or those that make use of abortion pills dispensed from certified facilities such as clinics or physicians’ offices. They do not account for the use of abortion pills that were obtained  outside of clinical settings .

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The annual number of U.S. abortions rose for years after Roe v. Wade legalized the procedure in 1973, reaching its highest levels around the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. Since then, abortions have generally decreased at what a CDC analysis called  “a slow yet steady pace.”

Guttmacher says the number of abortions occurring in the U.S. in 2020 was 40% lower than it was in 1991. According to the CDC, the number was 36% lower in 2021 than in 1991, looking just at the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported both of those years.

(The corresponding line graph shows the long-term trend in the number of legal abortions reported by both organizations. To allow for consistent comparisons over time, the CDC figures in the chart have been adjusted to ensure that the same states are counted from one year to the next. Using that approach, the CDC figure for 2021 is 622,108 legal abortions.)

There have been occasional breaks in this long-term pattern of decline – during the middle of the first decade of the 2000s, and then again in the late 2010s. The CDC reported modest 1% and 2% increases in abortions in 2018 and 2019, and then, after a 2% decrease in 2020, a 5% increase in 2021. Guttmacher reported an 8% increase over the three-year period from 2017 to 2020.

As noted above, these figures do not include abortions that use pills obtained outside of clinical settings.

Guttmacher says that in 2020 there were 14.4 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Its data shows that the rate of abortions among women has generally been declining in the U.S. since 1981, when it reported there were 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women in that age range.

The CDC says that in 2021, there were 11.6 abortions in the U.S. per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. (That figure excludes data from California, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.) Like Guttmacher’s data, the CDC’s figures also suggest a general decline in the abortion rate over time. In 1980, when the CDC reported on all 50 states and D.C., it said there were 25 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.

That said, both Guttmacher and the CDC say there were slight increases in the rate of abortions during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Guttmacher says the abortion rate per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 rose from 13.5 in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020. The CDC says it rose from 11.2 per 1,000 in 2017 to 11.4 in 2019, before falling back to 11.1 in 2020 and then rising again to 11.6 in 2021. (The CDC’s figures for those years exclude data from California, D.C., Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey.)

The CDC broadly divides abortions into two categories: surgical abortions and medication abortions, which involve pills. Since the Food and Drug Administration first approved abortion pills in 2000, their use has increased over time as a share of abortions nationally, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher.

The majority of abortions in the U.S. now involve pills, according to both the CDC and Guttmacher. The CDC says 56% of U.S. abortions in 2021 involved pills, up from 53% in 2020 and 44% in 2019. Its figures for 2021 include the District of Columbia and 44 states that provided this data; its figures for 2020 include D.C. and 44 states (though not all of the same states as in 2021), and its figures for 2019 include D.C. and 45 states.

Guttmacher, which measures this every three years, says 53% of U.S. abortions involved pills in 2020, up from 39% in 2017.

Two pills commonly used together for medication abortions are mifepristone, which, taken first, blocks hormones that support a pregnancy, and misoprostol, which then causes the uterus to empty. According to the FDA, medication abortions are safe  until 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Surgical abortions conducted  during the first trimester  of pregnancy typically use a suction process, while the relatively few surgical abortions that occur  during the second trimester  of a pregnancy typically use a process called dilation and evacuation, according to the UCLA School of Medicine.

In 2020, there were 1,603 facilities in the U.S. that provided abortions,  according to Guttmacher . This included 807 clinics, 530 hospitals and 266 physicians’ offices.

While clinics make up half of the facilities that provide abortions, they are the sites where the vast majority (96%) of abortions are administered, either through procedures or the distribution of pills, according to Guttmacher’s 2020 data. (This includes 54% of abortions that are administered at specialized abortion clinics and 43% at nonspecialized clinics.) Hospitals made up 33% of the facilities that provided abortions in 2020 but accounted for only 3% of abortions that year, while just 1% of abortions were conducted by physicians’ offices.

Looking just at clinics – that is, the total number of specialized abortion clinics and nonspecialized clinics in the U.S. – Guttmacher found the total virtually unchanged between 2017 (808 clinics) and 2020 (807 clinics). However, there were regional differences. In the Midwest, the number of clinics that provide abortions increased by 11% during those years, and in the West by 6%. The number of clinics  decreased  during those years by 9% in the Northeast and 3% in the South.

The total number of abortion providers has declined dramatically since the 1980s. In 1982, according to Guttmacher, there were 2,908 facilities providing abortions in the U.S., including 789 clinics, 1,405 hospitals and 714 physicians’ offices.

The CDC does not track the number of abortion providers.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that provided abortion and residency information to the CDC in 2021, 10.9% of all abortions were performed on women known to live outside the state where the abortion occurred – slightly higher than the percentage in 2020 (9.7%). That year, D.C. and 46 states (though not the same ones as in 2021) reported abortion and residency data. (The total number of abortions used in these calculations included figures for women with both known and unknown residential status.)

The share of reported abortions performed on women outside their state of residence was much higher before the 1973 Roe decision that stopped states from banning abortion. In 1972, 41% of all abortions in D.C. and the 20 states that provided this information to the CDC that year were performed on women outside their state of residence. In 1973, the corresponding figure was 21% in the District of Columbia and the 41 states that provided this information, and in 1974 it was 11% in D.C. and the 43 states that provided data.

In the District of Columbia and the 46 states that reported age data to  the CDC in 2021, the majority of women who had abortions (57%) were in their 20s, while about three-in-ten (31%) were in their 30s. Teens ages 13 to 19 accounted for 8% of those who had abortions, while women ages 40 to 44 accounted for about 4%.

The vast majority of women who had abortions in 2021 were unmarried (87%), while married women accounted for 13%, according to  the CDC , which had data on this from 37 states.

In the District of Columbia, New York City (but not the rest of New York) and the 31 states that reported racial and ethnic data on abortion to  the CDC , 42% of all women who had abortions in 2021 were non-Hispanic Black, while 30% were non-Hispanic White, 22% were Hispanic and 6% were of other races.

Looking at abortion rates among those ages 15 to 44, there were 28.6 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic Black women in 2021; 12.3 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women; 6.4 abortions per 1,000 non-Hispanic White women; and 9.2 abortions per 1,000 women of other races, the  CDC reported  from those same 31 states, D.C. and New York City.

For 57% of U.S. women who had induced abortions in 2021, it was the first time they had ever had one,  according to the CDC.  For nearly a quarter (24%), it was their second abortion. For 11% of women who had an abortion that year, it was their third, and for 8% it was their fourth or more. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

Nearly four-in-ten women who had abortions in 2021 (39%) had no previous live births at the time they had an abortion,  according to the CDC . Almost a quarter (24%) of women who had abortions in 2021 had one previous live birth, 20% had two previous live births, 10% had three, and 7% had four or more previous live births. These CDC figures include data from 41 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

The vast majority of abortions occur during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In 2021, 93% of abortions occurred during the first trimester – that is, at or before 13 weeks of gestation,  according to the CDC . An additional 6% occurred between 14 and 20 weeks of pregnancy, and about 1% were performed at 21 weeks or more of gestation. These CDC figures include data from 40 states and New York City, but not the rest of New York.

About 2% of all abortions in the U.S. involve some type of complication for the woman , according to an article in StatPearls, an online health care resource. “Most complications are considered minor such as pain, bleeding, infection and post-anesthesia complications,” according to the article.

The CDC calculates  case-fatality rates for women from induced abortions – that is, how many women die from abortion-related complications, for every 100,000 legal abortions that occur in the U.S .  The rate was lowest during the most recent period examined by the agency (2013 to 2020), when there were 0.45 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. The case-fatality rate reported by the CDC was highest during the first period examined by the agency (1973 to 1977), when it was 2.09 deaths to women per 100,000 legal induced abortions. During the five-year periods in between, the figure ranged from 0.52 (from 1993 to 1997) to 0.78 (from 1978 to 1982).

The CDC calculates death rates by five-year and seven-year periods because of year-to-year fluctuation in the numbers and due to the relatively low number of women who die from legal induced abortions.

In 2020, the last year for which the CDC has information , six women in the U.S. died due to complications from induced abortions. Four women died in this way in 2019, two in 2018, and three in 2017. (These deaths all followed legal abortions.) Since 1990, the annual number of deaths among women due to legal induced abortion has ranged from two to 12.

The annual number of reported deaths from induced abortions (legal and illegal) tended to be higher in the 1980s, when it ranged from nine to 16, and from 1972 to 1979, when it ranged from 13 to 63. One driver of the decline was the drop in deaths from illegal abortions. There were 39 deaths from illegal abortions in 1972, the last full year before Roe v. Wade. The total fell to 19 in 1973 and to single digits or zero every year after that. (The number of deaths from legal abortions has also declined since then, though with some slight variation over time.)

The number of deaths from induced abortions was considerably higher in the 1960s than afterward. For instance, there were 119 deaths from induced abortions in  1963  and 99 in  1965 , according to reports by the then-U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, a precursor to the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC is a division of Health and Human Services.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published May 27, 2022, and first updated June 24, 2022.

Support for legal abortion is widespread in many countries, especially in Europe

Nearly a year after roe’s demise, americans’ views of abortion access increasingly vary by where they live, by more than two-to-one, americans say medication abortion should be legal in their state, most latinos say democrats care about them and work hard for their vote, far fewer say so of gop, positive views of supreme court decline sharply following abortion ruling, most popular.

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