Federal Courts E-Government Act Compliance

In an article in the US Federal Court's newsletter, "The Third Branch", they reported that the judiciaries compliance with the "E-Government Act of 2002" was nearly total. The article explains that the US Congress passed the E-Government Act in order to improve customer service to citizens via the Internet. The article further notes that nearly 200 Federal Courts have their own websites, and that many are not only in compliance but exceed the type and amount of information required.

Electronic Case Filing Program Kicks Off At Orange County Clerk's Office

Thanks to Leesa Bainbridge of the Orange County, Florida Clerk of Circuit Court office for the following article.

Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner is pleased to announce that Ed Foster of Akerman, Senterfitt and Edison became the first attorney to electronically file a case under our new Electronic Case Filing system.

The Complex Business Litigation case was filed April 5, 2006, in the Civil Division under the direction of Program Manager Carolyn Weber.

"We are thrilled to get our first case just 14 months after we began laying the groundwork for the project", Gardner said. "E-commerce is the future and we plan to stay on the cutting edge of that universe."

Gardner also praised the leadership of Weber, whose experience developing an Electronic Case Filing system in the federal courts was invaluable as she began creating the program for the Orange County Clerk of Courts.

Electronic Case Filing - or ECF - is one of the most significant innovations ever implemented at the Clerk's Office. The E-filing plan was approved by the Supreme Court for Complex Business Litigation in February 2005. As required by the Supreme Court, our operation begins with a pilot program involving a limited number of law firms. In time, that program will expand significantly.

The Orange County Clerk of Courts is the first among large counties to begin rolling out an ECF program.

ECF allows attorneys to electronically file new cases and subsequent pleadings 24 hours a day, seven days a week from anywhere they have Internet access. It allows for 24-hour access to those files, which are secured by a password. It means faster document retrieval, savings on courier and postage fees, fewer visits to the Clerk's Office and reduced use of paper. Attorneys are alerted to any case activity through automatic emails.

There are 50 attorneys registered in ECF with 157 documents electronically filed. We have two pro se tenant eviction cases as part of our pilot phase. The advantages to attorneys, clients and Orange County will only expand as the program grows.

The Promise and Challenges of Jury System Technology

The 2003 book "The Promise and Challenges of Jury System Technology" by Tom Munsterman and Paula Hannaford-Agor is now available online from the National Center for State Courts website. This publication supported by a grant from the State Justice Institute explores issues such as the policy implication of jury management technologies, usage of source lists, qualification and summoning, and service and post-service technologies.

Maricopa County (Phoenix, Arizona) Sends News

Thanks to Katherine Johnson of the Maricopa County Integrated Justice System project in Phoenix, Arizona for sending along their most recent newsletter. Highlights from the newsletter are:

Electronic Filing of Criminal Case Data - Criminal case filing data is being passed electronically from the County Attorney's Office to the Clerk of the Superior Court eliminating the manual data entry and the potential for data entry errors. Once accepted by the Superior Court, copies of the criminal case data are available for other justice agencies to receive. The Public Defender will be the first additional agency to receive this electronic data before the end of this fiscal year.

Electronic Filing of Subsequent Criminal Case Documents - Subsequent criminal case documents such as motions are being transmitted electronically from the County Attorney's Office to the Clerk of the Superior Court and are distributed to the correct parties via the Clerk of Court's eService system.

JWI (Justice Web Interface) - MCAO, Adult Probation - The cutover for Justice Web Interface (JWI), which replaced the Department of Public Safety (DPS) system access, to the County Attorney's Office (MCAO) and Adult Probation (APD) was completed in October 2005.

Form IV A - Initial Appearance - In addition to a regular Form IV, a Form IV-A has to be completed when an arrestee is arrested on a warrant from another jurisdiction. The form has a check box to indicate whether the arrest is a Fugitive of Justice arrest, as well as a section for the arresting officer to describe how the individual was identified as the subject of the warrant. Both the Form IV and the Form IV A would be completed and sent to IA and MCAO.

Increasing Public Access to Court Rules - Moving from Good to Great

Submitted by Cari Gerchick, Esq., Communications Director, Arizona Supreme Court, Administrative Office of the Courts

Submitting changes or comments to Arizona's court rules, which apply in all state courts, has just gotten easier. The Arizona Supreme Court now accepts electronic filing of rule petitions and rule comments at the "Rules EForum." The Rules E-Forum is a website created by the Arizona Supreme Court that allows the public to monitor all pending rules petitions and comments.

"Allowing electronic filing of rule petitions and rule comments saves time and money for members of the legal and non-legal communities who wish to be a part of the rule change process," said Chief Justice Ruth V. McGregor. 

"We're excited about our ability to offer easier access for all interested parties, in another step to move our courts from good to great."

To submit, comment on, or view a rule change petition, please visit www.supreme.state.az.us/rules/ and register.

The public may still submit rule change petitions and comments in the traditional, paper method with the Clerk of the Supreme Court located at 1501 West Washington, Fourth Floor, Phoenix, Arizona 85007. For instructions, please visit: www.supreme.state.az.us/clerk. These documents will appear on the electronic
forum.

For more information about the Arizona Supreme Court's Rules E-Forum, visit: www.supreme.state.az.us/rules/ and click on Frequently Asked Questions.

Michigan Implements Statewide Drug Court Case Management System

Submitted by: Nial Raaen, Director of Trial Court Services, Michigan Supreme Court

The Michigan State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) announces the release of its statewide web-based drug court case information system (DCCMIS). The DCCMIS is designed to support drug court case management and the collection and analysis of drug court data. The DCCMIS project began in late 2003 when SCAO requested technical assistance from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to recommend an approach to improve drug court automation in the state. NCSC further assisted with the preparation of a request for proposal (RFP) to develop a drug court case management system for statewide implementation. Five focus group meetings were held with drug court users and key stakeholders to refine RFP requirements. An advisory committee of drug court users was convened to review vendor proposals and evaluate system demonstrations. Following a review of ten proposals, the advisory committee recommended that the contract be awarded to Advanced Computer Technologies (ACT) of Montgomery, Alabama.

Development of the DCCMIS software application commenced in January 2005 with site visits to observe court processes and define user requirements in local trial and tribal courts. A users' focus group was then convened to review the design of vendor's current drug court software and identify changes needed to incorporate requirements unique to Michigan. SCAO drug court staff also led a data standards committee to identify required data elements for drug court evaluation. The alpha-version DCCMIS application was then presented to more than 50 users during software testing sessions conducted at the Michigan Hall of Justice in late summer 2005. Final testing of the system was completed at selected beta sites.

The on-going costs of system hosting and maintenance are covered by SCAO. The only cost to local drug courts will be for high speed internet connection and upgrades to PC software and hardware, if needed. All courts that receive state funding through the Michigan Drug Court Grant Program will use the system as a condition of their funding beginning in fiscal year 2007. Other drug courts are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.

System training starts with a brief site visit to assess each court's readiness for implementation. Courts are responsible for ensuring that they meet necessary hardware and software requirements. Training begins with a regional session for groups of court users, followed by live training at each court site. The SCAO training team is large enough to allow concurrent deployment of the system at several sites. Training and implementation was completed at 54 drug courts within five months of system release. Help desk services and an online users' manual are provided by the vendor, along with on-going support and training from SCAO.

The DCCMIS analysis component will provide users the ability to conduct descriptive and comparative bi-variant analysis of their data without the need to export data into other statistical programs. The system will allow users to select out subgroups of clients using any combination of the variables collected in the system, and provide the analytic tools to describe the frequency, percent, mean, standard deviation, and range of each subgroup. Differences between subgroup characteristics and recidivism can be tested. This will provide managers quick access to information and measurable program performance to assist with strategic planning and administrative decision making.

Funding for the DCCMIS has been provided in part by grants from the Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy and the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. For questions regarding our project contact Ms. Emily Taylor in the SCAO Drug Court Programs Office at (517) 373-7351 or TaylorE@courts.mi.gov.

Setting Up Multiple Monitors From One PC

Being the techno wizards that we are here at the NCSC, we of course are always trying to figure out a way to buy more technology. The other day we were looking into the ways that we could setup multiple video monitors from one PC or laptop and found this article on Microsoft's website that provides a good starting point for investigation. For several years we have recommended that courts look at multiple smaller monitors for their courtroom bench in order to both increase screen space while maintaining sight lines.

US Supreme Court Approves New Electronic Discovery Rules

Thanks to Michael Arkfeld for this note:

On April 12, 2006 the United States Supreme Court approved the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These rules concern the discovery of "electronically stored information" (ESI). These rule changes affect Rules 16, 26, 33, 34, 37, 45 and Form 35.

The rules have been sent to Congress and will become effective on December 1, 2006 unless Congress acts to change or defer the amendments. The amendments are available on the United States Court's web site.

National Governors Association Awards Grants

Federal Computer Week magazine has noted that the National Governors Association has awarded five $50,000 grants to the states of Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, New York and North Carolina to implement GJXDM based data sharing projects.

A Web-Based Domestic Violence Protection System is Running in Florida

Dan Zinn, CIO in the Office of the State Attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach, Florida sends us the following description of their new web-based domestic violence protection system:

The Domestic Violence Information System (DVIS) is a web-enabled application designed to provide a centralized source for information about victims and defendants involved in domestic violence. The purpose of the project is to facilitate more effective interventions for battered women and their children. The project objectives are to: (1) Enhance court processes. (2) Protect and provide services to persons at risk for domestic violence. (3) To collect and share information between criminal justice and social service agencies.

The DVIS project started July 2001 when the State Attorney applied for and received a grant to develop a system of information sharing for the courts. The State Attorney's Office (SAO) took a leadership role in identifying the Stakeholders, business requirements and then led the development of the application. The following stakeholders participated in the development of DVIS: 

• Eleven (11) Batters Intervention Programs (BIPS)
• Florida Department of Children and Families
• Florida Department of Corrections
• Palm Beach District Schools
• Palm Beach District Courts (15th Judicial Circuit)
• Palm Beach County Probation (Pride)
• Palm Beach County Public Safety Victim Services.
• Shelters
• State Attorney's Office (15th Judicial Circuit)

The information gathered from the meetings formed the scope of work and defined the architecture for the database. International Standards Organization (ISO) quality management principles were and are continuously used throughout the development process.

A major problem identified during the process was the high level of paper generated and the duplication of effort required. DVIS was designed to eliminate duplicate efforts and to provide a central point of information sharing. Where paper documents were required, DVIS provides the ability to print out forms directly from the database. Revisiting and reengineering several manual processes also eliminated the need for paper all together. In a typical case DVIS eliminates 144 manual processes previously required.

DVIS uses the information from STAC (see the March/April 2003 Court Technology Bulletin) to update the database. This approach eliminates multiple entry of information. Ten other circuits in Florida use STAC, in the future, DVIS can be implemented in other circuits without additional programming costs. Currently DVIS has 300+ users. DVIS is a .Net application that can connect to any SQL database. The application was developed using federal funds and is available to criminal justice agencies.