Your court staff is very careful to redact data deemed confidential by Administrative Rule 9 and to insist that all litigants properly file on green paper those pleadings that contain confidential information that must be kept private. When they need to make copies they do so carefully, keeping protected information out of the public eye. They may even use the copier to send documents by fax or email before carefully … [Read more...] about Digital Copiers and Hard Drives: Keeping a Lid on Confidential Information
Cover Stories
How to Handle Expungements
In regards to court records, what is expungement? When is it authorized? How is it accomplished? Black’s Law Dictionary tells us to expunge is “to destroy or obliterate; blot out; efface designedly; strike out wholly.” Express authority for courts to order expungement of records in Indiana is rather limited. Statutory authority for expungement of arrest records is found in I.C. 35-38-5-1 et seq.1 Expungement of recor … [Read more...] about How to Handle Expungements
Problem Solving Courts in Indiana
All Indiana judges are familiar with the “revolving door” of the criminal justice system. Individuals are sentenced for relatively minor criminal offenses, only to return months later facing new and frequently more serious charges. While terms of imprisonment seem to curb criminal activity for a period of time, eventually the re-offending individual reverts back to old behaviors leading to new arrests, convictions an … [Read more...] about Problem Solving Courts in Indiana
Revisiting the Vision
The state of Indiana trial court technology ten years after JTAC’s founding and a reminder about how we got here in the first place— Two years into the deployment of Indiana's uniform statewide Odyssey case management system (CMS), 51 courts in 19 counties are up and running, managing more than 22% of the state’s caseload. Now, more than 440,000 cases a year are being tracked electronically, stored in a central datab … [Read more...] about Revisiting the Vision
Help is at Hand
Senior Judges Can Ease the Burden of Crowded Court Calendars - Let's suppose you opened your mail this morning and found a catalog full of interesting classes being offered next year by the National Judicial College. Or perhaps your spouse called with the news that your son or daughter was finishing special military training at Pensacola next month and wanted you to visit and share the two free days before shipping … [Read more...] about Help is at Hand