Study Guide for Exam 3: Technology and the Courts Spring 2010 Professor Byrne

Topic Areas:

The Courts and Hard Technology: Recent changes in court structure (e.g. the proliferation of specialized courts), operations, management, and administration have been facilitated by a number of specific technological advances, particularly related to computers, multimedia technology, and on-site drug testing. Examples include:

  1. The “High Technology” courtroom (computers, video, cameras, design features of buildings)
  2. Improvements in weapons detection devices used in courthouse settings
  3. Focus: the courtroom 21 project at the college of William and Mary Law School
  4. Other hard technology applications in court (e.g. drug testing for pretrial detaining)

The Courts and Soft Technology: Improvements in information technology have been applied to the unique problems of offenders in specialized courts (e.g. drug courts, reentry courts, domestic violence courts, family courts), as well as the general court administration problems of intersystem coordination (mental health, public health, welfare) case processing, backlog, and decision making. Examples include:

  1. Case flow management systems for prosecutors; the use of case management devices/instruments by court administrators, public defenders, and presiding judges (e.g. backlog reduction strategies, jury selection, case classification/ weighting systems, etc.)
  2. Mental health screening for pretrial detainees, at arraignment, competency, drug dependency/multiple problem offender identification.
  3. The use of objective risk screening devices by probation officers to aid in PSI completion, and to determine appropriate specialized court referrals; new sentencing software
  4. Other soft technology applications in the courts ( info needs vary by court type, e.g. reentry courts, drug courts, mental health courts, domestic violence courts, etc.)

Key Terms: 44.203 CJ Tech Exam 3 Key Terms

1. JNET (Pennsylvania)……go to Corbett chapter

2. Courtroom 21 Project…..go to Bellone chapter

3. NCSC’s CourTools….go to Corbett chapter

4. Hard Technology and Specialized Courts ( e-court project)….go to PPT and Bellone chapter

5. Operation Drug Test in the Federal Pretrial System: What was it?....class notes. This was the study of the impact of pretrial drug testing and treatment on demand in the Federal Courts by Byrne

6. Data Warehousing…..see Corbett chapter

7. Drug Courts: number, target population, effectiveness in areas of drug use, criminal behavior and cost…. See PPT on Drug Courts

8. Restorative Justice…..see class notes and PPT on Soft Tech in the Courts, section on specialized courts

9. Reentry Courts….. see class notes and PPT on Soft Tech in the Courts, section on specialized courts

10. Addiction: extent of the problem…..see class notes. Drug court PPT, and film

11. Courtroom 23 in Florida….see Bellone chapter and PPT

12. Cybercourts…..see Bellone chapter

13. Drug testing methods: which drug test method works best?….see Bellone chapter

14. Access to hard technology: disparity issue….see class notes and PPT on Hard Tech and Courts

15.Weapon detection systems used in court settings: what technology do we use?….see Bellone chapter

16. Training of lawyers in the use of new technology: % trained….see Bellone chapter

17. Implementation level of court IT projects: % completed on time and under budget….see Corbett chapter

18. Transparancy…..term used in Corbett chapter

19. Dekalb County Radio Frequency Identification Technology…..see Corbett chapter

20. Multnomah County’s Sentencing Support Tools….see Corbett chapter

21. Court Technology as Trojan Horse…..term used in Corbett chapter

22. E-Government Act of 2002(see PPT titled Selling the law)

23. PACER Profits from sale of court documents (see ppt. Selling the law)

24.Innocence Project and DNA…..see class notes

25. New Ohio DNA law….see link to article on schedule

26. Projected costs of federal court information system and technology upgrades…..see schedule for the link to report on court IT

27.Impact of new technology on court performance….see PPT with this title

28. Drugs of choice in urban, suburban, and rural drug courts: What is the drug of choice in each location?….see Drug Court PPT

29. What happens in a drug court?....see Drug Court PPT and film on the South Boston Drug Court

30. churning and offender reentry: What is churning?…..see class notes and PPT on Soft tech and courts, section on reentry courts

Readings: Just click on the links below and you will access the chapter

1) Bellone Chapter

2) Corbett Chapter

Weblinks: Court Technology (all) and see weekly schedule

1) An Informed Response

2) Court Technology: A Status Report