JIS Court Technology Initiatives
Statewide Trial Court Case Management System
Judicial Information Systems, SCAO’s information technology division, assists state courts with technology issues. A case in point is the statewide case management system being developed by Judicial Information Systems in collaboration with Unisys, a technology consulting firm.
Case management is one of a trial court’s most critical functions, keeping cases on track for timely disposition. In the past, each trial court selected a system that best met that court’s needs within its financial limitations, resulting in a patchwork of many different case management systems deployed on different decentralized servers. A number of factors—the need to upgrade applications, an increase in mandated electronic reporting requirements, costly conversion failures, cutbacks in local funding, vendors’ termination of support services—led courts to seek better alternatives to their current case management systems. In 2008, JIS began working with Unisys on a new case management system that will be available to all state trial courts. The project includes pilot courts in Berrien and Washtenaw.
In 2009, the project moved into Phase I: the development of core functions that are basic to all types of cases. This phase also includes system functions for civil cases. Completion of Phase I, which will culminate in the pilot courts’ use of the case management system in civil cases, is slated for July 2010.
Phases II, III, and IV of the project will develop criminal, juvenile, and probate case management systems respectively. Phase II began in November 2009. All phases are slated for completion by July 2012.
The project is funded in part by user fees from courts that use case management technology previously developed by Judicial Information Systems. Funding is also provided through the Judicial Technology Improvement Fund, an annual funding source in the Supreme Court’s budget supported by court fees, and from contributions by the pilot counties. Funding provided by the pilot counties will be credited toward those courts’ future user fees.
Traffic Tickets Paid Online
Thanks to another Judicial Information Systems project, thousands of Michigan citizens paid traffic tickets online in 2009. Five courts -- 62A District Court in Wyoming, 38th District Court in Eastpointe, 36th District Court in Detroit, 15th District Court in Ann Arbor and the 54B District Court in East Lansing -- offered this service in 2009, with over 2,100 online ticket payments each month. In addition to being a convenience for ticket payers, the online payment system automatically posts transactions without involving court staff, a time savings that frees court employees for other duties.
In 2009, the ticket payment application was updated to provide wider connectivity to the trial courts, allowing more courts to offer this service. The 46th District Court in Southfield , 47th District Court in Farmington, and 51st District Court in Waterford will be implemented in the first quarter of 2010.
Judicial Data Warehouse
With approximately 36 million case records, the Judicial Data Warehouse allows the judiciary and law enforcement to obtain information about pending and closed cases throughout Michigan. As of December 31, 2009, the Judicial Data Warehouse was implemented in 226 courts in 81 counties.
The data warehouse supports various applications. In 2009, new applications included a reporting system to monitor children in abuse and neglect cases. This reporting system, a joint project of the SCAO and the Department of Human Services, tracks 62 measures for children who are at risk for neglect and abuse. The federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, and the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, were the models for this project. The reporting system was partially implemented in Genesee County in 2009; Saginaw and Livingston counties will be added in 2010. The project is funded by a federal grant.
Also in 2009, the data warehouse provided data to the Drug Court Case Management System. This data is used to measure recidivism rates for drug court participants. The information will also be used to compare the costs of drug court to those for traditional sentencing practices.
Once the warehouse is fully implemented, the SCAO will use it to generate additional statistical and trend information.
Judicial Network Project
In 2009, law enforcement continued to benefit from the Judicial Network Project, an effort headed by Judicial Information Systems with assistance from the Michigan State Police, Michigan Department of Information Technology, SCAO’s Trial Court Services division, county and municipal governments, and private contractors. The project allows Michigan trial courts to report felony and misdemeanor dispositions electronically to a state law enforcement database. As of December 2009, over 95 percent of all felony and misdemeanor dispositions were reported electronically from the courts to the Michigan State Police and Secretary of State.
The network is expected to receive a major upgrade in 2010. Using federal stimulus funds, the state will collaborate with private sector telecommunications vendors and local government to reach the under-served and unserved areas of Michigan. Applications like the Statewide Trial Court Case Management System will take advantage of this upgrade, as the increased functionality associated with new applications places greater demands on the existing network.
Video Conferencing
In 2009, Judicial Information Systems expanded a video conferencing project with the Department of Corrections to include the State Police Forensic Lab and state mental health facilities. Through this project, prisoners and mental health patients can participate in court hearings without the risks and costs involved in transporting them to court. Michigan State Police technicians can also use video conferencing to participate in arraignments, pretrial conferences, and other court hearings without the time and expense of travel.
Using a grant from the State Police Office of Highway Safety and Judicial Technology Improvement Funds, Judicial Information Systems began the planning process for the implementation of video conferencing in15 pilot courts. These 15 courts are of varying jurisdiction and locations.
Plans for 2010, include site visits to determine hardware and network connectivity requirements, followed by installation of the video conferencing equipment and connection to the Department of Corrections, State Police Forensic Lab and state mental health facilities. Every step of the project will be documented and evaluated to establish guidelines for trial courts.
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