Victorian Magistrates Courts are set to introduce a digital court triage service where proceeding times and status can be viewed in real time on tablets or display screens.
People attending court will be able to connect to proceedings using their smartphones. For example, people will be able to view the outcome of the court session on their phone.
According to the Victorian Minister for Technology, Gordon Rich-Phillips, the system will reduce waiting times, decrease the stress for people attending court, improve efficiencies and reduce costs for Victorian Magistrates Courts.
“The current paper-based system can be inefficient and costly, while delays in court hearings are a challenge,” he said in a statement.
“This project will develop a new mobile solution that streamlines case management and provides transparency around the status of a hearing.”
The digital court triage service project is being funded from the Victorian government’s $12 million technology innovation fund, which was launched in December 2013.
The funding is designed to support collaborate IT projects and trials that improve delivery of state government services.
In August 2013, the Supreme Court of Victoria conducted a trial of a Web-based case management system called RedCrest to lodge case files.
RedCrest was piloted by 5,000 users across 1,400 cases in the Commercial Court of the Supreme Court.
At the time, Rich-Phillips said the system would “transform” the process of recording court documents by replacing the existing paper based process.
“Hosted in a secure cloud environment, all case files including associated documentation will be uploaded to a secure site with access limited to appropriate parties from any location, 365 days a year, providing more convenient access and reducing costs for those based in regional and remote areas,” he said.
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