IT takes the courtroom into the 21st century

Information technology systems are being used on a trial basis at Southwark Crown Court in London to compare its efficiency with traditional methods of documentation.

The pilot study, undertaken by the Lord Chancellor's department hopes the implementation of 38 desktops, 24 laptops, scanning equipment and specialist software will save them time and money.

A complex fraud trial involving the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise is the first case to use the technology. Ten thousand pages from 30 lever arch files were scanned over two weeks onto a CD ROM. Samples from the database are shown to the jury on 38 large screens when referred to by counsel, witnesses or judge.

Searches can be carried out during the trial, documents are easily flagged for future reference and all the days events can be taken home on disc to help prepare for the next day. Software developed by Valid Information Systems allows the proceedings to be recorded instantly in a real-time transcript, accessible at any time.

During the trial one official will search through paper files and time himself on a stopwatch to evaluate how much time the system saves.

The pilot project is, which began on 7 September, is due to run till the end of the trial, which is estimated to take 12 weeks.