A Computer-Aided Justice Management System: A prototype for Universities in Uganda

Justice and law are concepts that date way back in ancient times; even when Jesus was on planet earth he was presented before law custodians for trial: Herod, Pilate and others. It was later extrapolated during the colonial era to resolve disputes that emerged during demarcation of territories among the British, French and German in Africa (the 1871 Berlin Conference). The practice of law and justice spread sporadically to other forms of life such as families, companies and educational institutions were not spared (McPherson, 2010; Aseem & Mary, 2012).

The proponents of behaviorism such as Mary Packard Follet and Elton Mayo fore saw the flaws the scientific movement suffered then propounded and promoted humanistic thinking. They alluded that human beings need not be considered for the pay tandem with their output but there may be other unavoidable circumstances that would otherwise impede quality output of workers. In the same vain employers used to exploit employees to maximize their profits (McPherson, 2010). With rising intuitive judgments and increased awareness of peoples’ rights and privileges, law and justice steadily perforated into society.

The justice management systems traced above started with informal type where judgments was delivered based on ones’ own interpretation of the then laws. However, with the introduction of formal learning law was sanctioned as a profession that needed attention and criteria to join it. Till the recent past courts of law have largely depended on paper based records management citing ease to use and relatively reliable compared to their counterpart IT Enabled (Jay, 2016; Michele, 2015; Antoinette, 2009). Despite these, the case attrition and prevalence have remained the biggest challenges. Cases of lost and misplaced files; absence of presiding judicial officers; prolonged judgments; repudiated/denied summons; other circumstances beyond human control have escalated case backlog in most courts of law in Uganda.

Until a decade ago, court cases used to be known for theft, rape and defilement, treason but recently those of corruption and student-institution related disputes have joined the mantle. In olden days, university education was highly respected and smoothly ran. However with the privatization policy of education in Uganda, many universities and tertiary institutions have opened and law programs offered. This has perhaps raised the awareness of many students regarding their rights and privileges which was not the case before. Besides, the growing globalization culture, students get exposed to many unbecoming practices such as cheating examinations, forging academic papers, and impersonation and hacking into confidential institutional repositories.

Various universities in Uganda admit students under certain terms and privileges alongside the requirements given by National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). While some of the privileges have not been forth coming, others are often misused. More so, some terms and conditions are taken for granted to the effect that every student must be aware.