The Center for Court Innovation

TECHNOLOGY

OVERVIEW

Technology offers courts a crucial commodity—information—that can help judges make better and quicker decisions, communicate with partner agencies (prosecutors, defense attorneys, social service agencies) and track court outcomes. By building state-of-the-art computer applications, the Center for Court Innovation seeks to speed case processing and improve accountability, ensuring that offenders comply with court orders and that all court personnel and partners are on the same page.

INTERVIEW

Judge Eileen Koretz presided over the Midtown Community Court from 1997 until 2006, when she became supervising judge of Manhattan’s Criminal Court. In February 2005 she sat down to talk about the Court's award-winning computer technology.

Q: The Midtown Court was one of the first in the country to use computer technology to bring up-to-date information into the courtroom. When you came to the court eight years ago, how did you respond to having a computer on the bench?
I really enjoyed playing with it and trying to see how much information I could get from it. On just one screen on the computer I can see if a defendant is homeless or not, whom they live with, what their education is, what their needs are, whether they’re in a drug program, how many times they’ve been to my court, whether they’ve completed the program at this court, what their record is, and so on. It’s just amazing to be able to have the information right in front of me and be able to make an educated decision. I can sit on the bench and a defense attorney might say, “My client has another case, but I don’t know who the lawyer is,” and we can bring up that information instantly.

ARTICLE

How Technology Can Facilitate Collaboration
Technology has been a key component in the Harlem Community Justice Center’s growth and community outreach. The tool linking almost all the Justice Center’s components together is the Justice Center Application, which has been used internally by staff almost since the opening of the Center to warehouse information on clients receiving services.The application collects client data in one central database, tracking program enrollment and attendance, referrals, and general case management notes.

In 2005, the Justice Center Application was expanded to support the community coalition building activities of the Youth Futures Network—a coalition of 50 community-based organizations that provides a full array of services to young people through constant collaboration and sharing of information and resources.