UK crown courts commit to IT

UK crown courts are to use IT to help them reduce the length of time taken on cases. The move is central to the Lord Chancellor's drive to reform the courts through a new system of case management.

Although the precise details are yet to be finalised, Lord Irvine is proposing that the courts make use of email, both within the courts themselves and out to other law enforcement agencies.

Clerks and ushers will be able to email lawyers, witnesses and judges to make sure everyone is assembled. A screen will be installed in the waiting room to keep witnesses up to date with the case.

Court staff will also be able to advise judges in court with access to case information from the police, Crown Prosecution Service and other agencies' files. Once the case has been concluded, the resulting judicial orders can be emailed back to the police, prison service and case lawyers.

The move is designed to cut back on wasted court time and costs resulting from bad case management. As much as 10 per cent of the total crown court costs of £180m could be saved. A source claimed the implementation would cost approximately £50m.

A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor said: "The IT strategy will initially focus on rolling out email to court staff, but who knows how it will develop. There has been technology in the courts for some time, but it is only now that the existing systems can be linked together so that they can communicate."