February / March 2018

February/March 2018

Vol. 16 No. 1

Best Tech Solutions CMS, DMS, E-filing & Beyond

THE OPIOID

CRISIS

New Court Security Policies

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Courts Today 69 Lyme Road, Hanover, NH 03755

HOW IT’S IMPACTING OUR COURTS

with alternative & diversion programs

Publisher & Executive Editor Thomas S. Kapinos Assistant Publisher Jennifer Kapinos

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 018 VOLU M E 16 N U M B E R 1 F EATU R E S

10 Transforming Courtrooms With New Technologies

18 Digital Management Solutions:

Editor Donna Rogers Contributing Editors Michael Grohs, Bill Schiffner G.F. Guercio, Kelly Mason Art Director Jamie Stroud Marketing Representatives Bonnie Dodson (828) 479-7472 Art Sylvie (480) 816-3448 Peggy Virgadamo (718) 456-7329

CMS, DMS, & Beyond

26 An Update on State Court Security Policies

30 Telephonic & Video Remote Appearance Options

34 How Opioids Are Impacting Our Courts

DE PARTM E NTS

4 Courts in the Media 37 Ad Index

PHOTO © BRUCE DAMONTE

with alternative & diversion programs

is published bi-monthly by: Criminal Justice Media, Inc PO Box 213 Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 310.374.2700 Send address changes to: COURTS TODAY 69 Lyme Road Hanover, NH 03755 or fax (603) 643-6551 To receive a FREE subscription to COURTS TODAY submit, on court letterhead, your request with qualifying title; date, sign and mail to COURTS TODAY 69 Lyme Road Hanover, NH 03755 or you may fax your subscription request to (603) 643-6551 Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions for non-qualified personnel, United States only, is $60.00.

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C O U RTS I N T H E M E D I A THE ANSWER TO CANADA'S OPIOID OVERDOSE CRISIS IS DECRIMINALIZATION, SAY ADVOCATES Nearly 200 drug users and advocates marched the streets of Vancouver on Feb. 20 to demand the decriminalization of the use of illicit drugs, according to CBC News, British Columbia.

"Without some kind of decriminalization, without making people feel safe enough to access services, to access treatment, we cannot get out of this epidemic. We really need to rethink our entire drug policy," said Jordan Westfall, organizer of the event and president of the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD).

The march, which ended at the footsteps of the law courts, was part of a "national day of action" on the

overdose crisis.

Rallies were held across Canada in Prince George, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Last year, 1,422 people died of illicit drug overdoses in B.C., an increase of 43 percent from 2016, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe referred to 2017 as "the most tragic year ever." Lapointe said approximately 81 per cent of suspected deaths last year involved fentanyl, and it was often combined with other illicit drugs—most often heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine, according to cbc.ca.

About 90 percent of those who died were alone inside a home when they suffered an overdose. Nobody died at any supervised consumption site or at any of the drug overdose prevention sites, said the coroner in January when it released the latest data.

Because of those statistics, marchers wore red to call for an end to the practice of "red-zoning," which they say can force drug users to consume in unsafe places.

The term red-zoning refers to when someone is arrested and receives conditions from the police or judge to not be in certain parts of the city. Sometimes that means staying away from the Downtown Eastside, where services such as shelters and safe-injection sites are.

"That could mean that someone loses access to health care or even their own housing," said Westfall.

If the person is caught in violation of their court order, they could end up back in court and the cycle continues.

Parents who lost loved ones were there to call for better access and funding to treatment beds. While the focus of last year's protest was

on the health care aspects of the opioid epidemic, those who've lost loved ones said funding treatment beds is still a priority.

Protesters carried signs which stated: “End the Stigma. Decriminalize Now! F*** the War on Drugs.”

TWO NEW REPORTS RELEASED BY COLUMBIA JUSTICE LAB CALL FOR MAJOR CHANGES IN PAROLE AND PROBATION SYSTEM In a new report released January 29 titled Too Big To Succeed some of the nation’s leading community corrections administrators discuss the consequences of the tremendous growth in probation and parole supervision in the United States over the past several decades. They argue that the number of people under supervision needs to be cut in half.

Originally designed as alternatives to incarceration, the authors find that probation and parole are a deprivation of liberty in their own right and have become key drivers of mass incarceration by serving as a trip wire to reincarceration for many of those under supervision.

The authors argue that community corrections populations have risen alongside prison and jail populations but that community corrections has not been funded adequately to meet the needs of a population of individuals beset by poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing, mental illness and substance use. Since it is highly unlikely that governments will increase funding to probation and parole, the only realistic alternative is to reduce the number of people under community corrections and preserve some of the funds to provide assistance to those who remain under supervision.

A second report Less Is More in New York focuses on New York City and state parole violations.

Both full reports can be found at http://justicelab.iserp.columbia.edu/.

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BY BI L L S C H I FFN ER, C O N T R IB U T IN G E D I T O R

Transforming Courtrooms Upgrades and developments changing the courtroom landscape.

OVER

the last decade, a growing number of digital technologies are continuing to become more robust and are being integrated in courtrooms across the country. Some of these were displayed at the recent American Probation and Parole Association’s (APPA) 2018 Winter Training Institute held in Houston and the National Association for Court Management (NACM) in California.

“Court technology is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. Courts relieve both patrons and staff when they integrate technology into their dayto-day operations. Technology is the new norm—it’s the lack of technology that people notice,” reports Kristen Zeck, director of marketing at Infax.

The Innovative iPad One of the biggest technology product breakthroughs that has forever changed the landscape of the courtroom and how trials are presented, comes in the form of Apple’s iPad.

In addition to its user-friendly functions, the device’s electronic as well as iCloud storage capabilities allow attorneys to leave behind boxes of heavy paper files. There are also a plethora of apps to choose from that can help attorneys and judges create and organize word processing files, conduct legal research, take notes and transcribe dictation.

More facilities are also continuing to offer wireless Internet access for all courtroom participants, including secure wi-fi access for judges with state-issued iPads, tablets and laptops, according to an article from the National Center for State Courts on beSpacific.com, a research web site.

Smart Signage The advent of digital technology and wireless connectivity has also given rise to the “smart” courtroom through digital signage.

Digital signage is an ideal first stepping-stone for a traditional courthouse’s integration into the digital age. Through the use of strategicallylocated digital signage and customized courthouse widgets that enhance the visitor experience, cour-

thouses gain several advantages for productivity and communications.

“Courts want to be more userfriendly to the public and to improve public access to justice. In order to do this, they need to provide accurate information in a helpful, timely and open manner,” says Mike Kilian, senior director, Business Development at Mvix Digital Signage.

“Going hi-tech enables them to do this. Technology such as fully automated digital signage and case management systems empower the court to improve efficiency and transparency, two factors that are a means to a court system that functions according to international standards and norms,” he adds.

Powerful AV Systems More powerful AV systems offering multiple inputs that can work with three output screens are providing new presentation options.

This gives lawyers the capability to use virtually any device with a video or audio signal output. They can display different information on each of the two projection screens

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and or large portable flat-screen monitors.

“The AV market is saturated with ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ technologies. With the dominance of video in courtroom presentations, courts need to choose their technology path wisely,” notes Brian Green vice president of Operations at JAVS. “By choosing an AV integrator that can act as a consultant, court officers can focus on 'what' their users and guests need, while allowing the integrator to focus on ‘how’ to implement the best technologies,” he adds.

He says that courts are shifting from an in-line model to an on-line model using technology to facilitate self-service, document distribution and internal employee’s resource management. “Interestingly, in the on-line world the largest shift is in the device in which information is being consumed. Court solutions must be mobile ready to accommodate the needs both internal and external. Technology, properly implemented, can drive digital transformation and introduce new ways of working; more streamlined and automated, across agencies.”

Go to the Video

Case Management Workflows

In the area of hearings management, we are seeing more courtrooms continue to utilize a greater use of video evidence and videoconferencing technologies. This is already increasingly used in criminal proceedings to facilitate the testimony of vulnerable witnesses, or to mitigate significant logistical costs.

A good example of this is allowing prisoners to attend a bail hearing via video link from his or her facility.

Virtual courthouse programs also allow documents to be either filed electronically or scanned into the system where judges can download case information to their laptops in the courtroom.

Streamlined Software “A lot of the criminal justice systems currently rely on a combination of long-standing manual processes and aging computer systems. Like the rest of their justice and public safety counterparts, courts need better, quicker and more efficient ways of distributing information and enabling the public to interact with the courts,” reports Josh Jaquish, vice president, Public Sector at Tribridge.

More streamlined case management software systems continue to simplify and provide customized case solutions by providing court administrators and personnel persistent access to information, workflow, tasks, and analytics. Case management software also empowers caseworkers to make complex, real-time decisions based on constantly changing information with an interface that delivers a seamless and consistent experience quickly and anywhere.

“From online dispute resolution (ODR) and consolidated, multijurisdictional document portals to integrated public safety and criminal justice, Tyler’s innovative solutions are not only changing the way our clients do business, they are connecting communities and transforming the administration of justice,” states Michael Kleiman, director of marketing, Tyler Technologies Courts & Justice Division.

Here’s a look at some of the latest technology solutions for the courtroom as well as other products for court administrators to consider utilizing in their facilities.

Case Management Software Justice Systems provides innovative software, services, and solutions for courts and attorneys across the nation. Its products leverage leading-edge web technologies and

include its FullCourt Enterprise court case management system, integrated imaging, e-payments, efiling, jury management and much more. They report they have combined innovative products with dedicated industry specialists that directly assist with implementing each of their court systems. www.justicesystems.com, 1.505.883.3987

Online Dispute Resolution Online Dispute Resolution is here, and increasingly, courts and legal service providers are recognizing its potential in expanding access to justice for parties involved in low

dollar value civil cases. Modria, a leading ODR product, combines the social science of alternative dispute resolution practices, with rulesbased technology and case management. By integrating the product with Odyssey, Tyler is making it easier for citizens to receive fast

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and fair resolutions to a variety of cases types, and making courts more efficient. www.tylertech.com, modria@tylertech.com

Layered Case Management System Tybera Alpine case management system differs from competitors in that it incorporates an indexing layer, which brings unique and innovative capabilities to the platform. This layer abstracts the data

from the database, and as such, Alpine can sit on different data sources, and unify and make available all data as a cohesive and unified set of data. It allows all data in the system to be searched via a complex search language, which prepares the foundation for future natural language searching. The speed of searching is very fast, comparable to “internet search� kind of speed due to the index. www.tybera.com, 1.801.226.2746

SmartScreen The Infax SmartScreen solution allows patrons to view court information with the touch of a finger.

Instead of asking court staff for assistance, they have instant access to directories, maps, public notices, the docket and more. Patrons can even check in to alert court staff of their arrival for a calendar appearance or jury service. This interactive solution can be completely customized to suit the needs of the court. www.infax.com, 1.770.209.9925

Pretrial Software Making evidenced-based decisions for bail based on records and risk assessments promotes public safety and the well-being of defendants and their families. Tribridge Pretrial360 efficiently and accurately

manages the pretrial process including supervision and programs. Then analyzing that data can identify trends. Based on Microsoft technology, the software’s interactive dashboards and analytics integrate with automated business rules and processes of case management to deliver real-time information and visibility in a mobile-ready, CJIScompliant environment. www.tribridge.com/pretrial360, 1.888.883.9797

Mobile Technology Solutions CFive Solutions offers technology that connects innovative community supervision agencies with the information they need to reduce recidivism, improve lives, and keep communities

safe. In use in a variety of supervision agencies throughout the United States, cFive Catalyst is a rehabilitation and behavioral change platform.

Catalyst bridges the offender-supervisor relationship with intelligent supervision management services and a client-facing mobile app that enables automated interactions and information gathering, and improves monitoring, offender accountability, and offender behavior. www.cfive.com, 1.949.260.3002

Secure Access The C-Track Public Access portal enables citizens to have secure access to court case information, including the ability to pay fines, review rulings or request calendar

changes. With C-Track Public Access, courts maintain control over essential functions while reducing courthouse congestion and timeconsuming manual tasks, all while fostering transparency and access to justice for citizens. www.thomsonreuters.com, 1.877.923.7800

Inventory Management Tool The Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) is a fully functioning case management tool and assessment that measures the risk and need factors of

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late adolescent and adult offenders.

The LS/CMI is the most widely used risk/needs assessment in the world. www.mhs.com, 1.800.456.3003

Robust Management Software

Wireless Stun Device The Stun-Cuff produced by Myers Enterprises, Inc. is a wireless prisoner stun device. Used during transports, trials, medical runs or any time the prisoner needs extra restraint. The transmitter has a 100-

Equivant knows the risks that agencies face as they make hundreds of decisions every day. The Northpointe Suite software equips them to successfully manage indi-

viduals, their case plans, and ongoing supervision monitoring. The company’s scientifically validated COMPAS Risk/Needs assessment can standalone or integrate with automated case plans and its case management system for Supervision, Pretrial, and Treatment Courts. www.equivant.com, 1.800.406.4333

AV System With a focus on simplicity, flexibility and reliability, Notewise 3 by Justice AV Solutions (JAVS) is an innovative new platform designed for next level AV recording, logging, and playback. Featuring speech

timelines, time-stamped quick notes, speaker identification, and tons of customizable settings, Notewise is a cost-effective solution for recording the proceedings in your courtroom. www.javs.com/notewise, 1.800.354.JAVS (5287)

yard range. The device has proved to be a great deterrent. Once it is demonstrated, prisoners know they cannot escape the device. It assists in reducing workers compensation claims and prisoner injury. In 11 years of sales there has never been any litigation result from the product’s use. The Stun-Cuff has a wireless DataPort that gives all dates, times and duration of firings. www.stun-cuff.com, 1.303.986.0808

Digital Signage The Mvix digital signage platform for courts has four main parts to it.

First, court dockets for easily displaying daily dockets. By automating the daily docket, staff doesn’t have to print and post the court calendar every time case information changes.

Secondly, wayfinding and directories

for displaying directional signage (3D maps and digital directories), helps visitors and staff navigate the court facilities easily and faster. Next are emergency messaging for automatically displaying custom alerts from the court, or CAP alerts—such as amber alerts—from local and national sources. Lastly, there is the court announcements board for generating court announcements and tips, such as how to file a claim, etc. www.mvixdigitalsignage.com, 1.703.382.1739

Treating Opioid Abuse VIVITROL offers a different approach to treating opioid dependence. VIVITROL is an injectable, once-monthly, extended-release form of naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist. It works by blocking opioid receptors in the brain and is the only FDA-approved medication for preventing relapse to opioid dependence, following opioid detoxification. Since its first approval, more than 350,000 patients have been treated with VIVITROL. www.alkermes.com, 1.781.609.6000

3-D Plaques and Signage Art Sign Works, Inc., makes premium custom carved 3-D bas-relief metal-plated courtroom plaques for Federal, State and Municipal Courts,

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BY G. F. G U ERC I O, C O N T R I B U T I N G E D IT O R

The Quest for Management Solutions

Technology has the power to solve the issues faced by today’s court and probation personnel and administrators. The quest for solutions stops here—at the matrix of technology and management.

Major solutions are profiled below with a synopsis of the technology along with highlights of each program’s reported effectiveness and efficiencies. Whether case management system (CMS), document management system (DMS), supervision management, data automation, redaction, extraction, efiling, public access, or integration, these tech solutions answer the quest for better justice.

Company: Tyler Technologies Product: Incode Municipal Court Software

With simple graphics and userfriendly interface, Incode offers functionality/flexibility to help courts manage the most extensive tasks to the most sensitive information.

Incode's fully-integrated software suites are perfect for case management, document processing, cash bond management, and more. With this high level of integration, courts can easily share information with other users and offices, while reducing data entry errors and redundancies. Office staff access information they need when they need from

personal dashboards. The information flow is protected with advanced security encryption and processes.

Effectiveness: • Integration with police department • Custom reporting and analysis • Automated processing Efficiencies Created: • Increased revenue • Decreased paper use • Decreased window traffic Contact Info: 972.713.3770 www.tylertech.com

Company: Integrated Software Specialists, Inc. Product: iJustice

CMS Enterprise Services Platform is made up of several advanced

technology components and/or products, designed to serve the courts, clerk, and all partners, customers, and users of the courts including all law and justice departments, the public, attorneys, the press, state agencies, federal agen-

cies, court and case services providers, police, jails, sheriff, and more. Easily connects, exchanges, communicates and orchestrates information with other systems and all extended users, customers or partners of the court, simultaneously with virtually no limits.

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Effectiveness: • Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) delivers programmable information/automation services to unlimited number of users, systems, and organizations.

Components are interchangeable/reusable to serve other enterprise applications and organizations.

• Enterprise Integration and Exchange Services Bus and Manager: Fast, flexible, agile, and limitless with ability to manage, monitor, and assure enterprisewide connections and data exchange delivery.

• The ability to make intelligent information orchestration decisions, serving the needs of all customers of the court while reducing labor.

Efficiencies Created:

Orchestration, Intelligent eNotifications, Advanced Public and Attorney eServices, Mobility/Smart Phone advanced public services apps, Judicial Dashboards, Integrated Criminal Justice Information System and work-flow automation across all law and justice departments.

Contact Info: 847.240.5070 x5353 www.iJusticeSolutions.com info@issintl.com

Company: Tybera Product: Alpine

CMS incorporates an indexing layer which abstracts the data from the database so Alpine can sit on different data sources, and unify and

“Don’t necessarily look for a product that has everything; rather one that can do everything.”

—Michael Locascio, CEO, Integrated Software Specialists, Inc. • A few advanced features: Users can design browser-based executive dashboards with charts, graphs, alerts which can be displayed on web pages or kiosks; develop ad-hoc real-time reports/schedules to run as they wish, set/change business rules on the fly that can change functionality, workflow, and decisions that the system automatically makes; set changes for a future date and automatically enforces changes on that date.

• As SOA, components can be purchased separately to augment existing CMS systems. These include Enterprise eServices

make available all data as a cohesive and unified set of data. It allows all data in the system to be searched via a complex search language, which prepares the foundation for future natural language searching at internet-search speed.

Product: CEDAR Courts need a document repository that can store, retrieve and manage official documents without

worrying how many users are logged into the system when efiling or in public access, and can be assured that the documents sent by filers are protected and maintained.

In CEDAR DMS the storage/

retrieval of documents is designed to come from the efiling/CMS system not from client interface. An administrative interface makes changes to documents/manages where documents are stored and is designed to be administered by few individuals rather than many clients or users.

Contact Info: 801.226.2746 www.tybera.com

Company: ImageSoft, Inc. Product: OnBase

OnBase, a single platform for managing content, processes and cases, is used in thousands of organizations to manage courts, accounts payable, human resources, IT, contract management and other functions. OnBase connects to a court’s CMS and other platforms so the court can electronically manage both data and documents. Through the use of electronic workflows, workloads are automatically balanced, such as in Filing Review, and managing clerks gain real-time visibility into opera-

tions. Automatically provides an audit trail for every action which makes retracing steps easier and provides metrics not possible with paper.

Effectiveness: • Increases accountability • Increases productivity • Couples document management and workflow capabilities with the court’s existing CMS Efficiencies Created: • Eliminates the need for file carts to manage work.

• Significant reduction in case file prep time for docket.

• 20 percent or more increase in processing capacity.

Contact Info: 855.533.3366 marketing@imagesoftinc.com www.imagesoftinc.com February/March 2018x

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Company: Thomson Reuters Product: C-Track Court Case Management

C-Track is a user-friendly, webbased CMS designed to help better manage workflow, allowing courts to process cases faster and more efficiently. It combines the most advanced technology with court operations expertise to deliver configurable/intuitive system, and easily integrate e-filing, case management, and public access solutions with other court applications.

Effectiveness:

• Easily adapts to meet unique rules and critical processes. Rules can be changed quickly/easily without the need for technical support.

• Allows for seamless standardsbased integration with other internal/external systems to provide efficient/streamlined workflow.

“C-Track has been remarkably stable and reliable. C-Track is also intuitive; new users consistently remark how easy it is to learn the system.”

—Rick Stowes, Minnesota Supreme Court • Works for every user, across every function of the court, throughout every case type to decrease workload pressures throughout all court departments.

Efficiencies Created: • Automates through intuitive features designed for data entry optimization across multiple

entry points, a robust Rules Engine automates/eliminates steps.

• Streamlines operations through easy-to-use Configuration Manager, and increases visibility through built-in reporting that measures effectiveness and results across each court.

• C-Track modernizes with scalable web-based design/architecture, is “evergreen” and integrates with e-filing, public access, and third party systems to achieve a connected justice ecosystem.

Contact Info: Kendall Smith Kendall.smith@tr.com 651.687.1142 (office) Legalsolutions.com/court-management

Company: cFive Solutions, Inc.

Product: cFive Supervisor cFive Supervisor provides community supervision agencies the framework to optimize programs, case managers and client outcomes.

Supervisor features process-driven design that facilitates intuitive and accurate data collection, supports configurable/dynamic workflows that help agencies implement evidence-based practices, facilitates inter-jurisdictional information sharing, provides built-in outcomeoriented reports, features an easyto-use ad-hoc report builder that gives agencies access to all their data.

Effectiveness: • Facilitates better planning/ management oversight by guiding to goals, interventions, objectives, and service providers for targeted criminogenic needs. Provides current information/historical trends in one location.

• Automatically collects data for outcome-based reporting based on understanding of characteris-

tics and needs of the client, allowing agencies to track progress and trends based on specific outcomes, provides actionable data to improve outcomes.

• Integration with cFive Catalyst provides ability to manage/interact with clients

remotely through smartphones.

The client-facing mobile app automates interactions and information gathering, improves monitoring, client accountability, and client behavior.

Efficiencies Created: • Allows agencies to create workflows designed to support specific business processes and helps incorporate them to work the way they do. Users monitor, evaluate, and maintain tasks and processes in real-time, so agencies continuously optimize workflows.

• Enter data once and the intuitive data system distributes where it needs to be, cutting data entry time, reducing entry errors, improving operational efficiency, and, freeing case managers to focus on rehabilitation.

• Supervisors view their tasks and their team, case managers only see their tasks, directors and chiefs can select any user and view workflow.

Contact Info: 949.260.3002 info@cfive.com www.cfive.com

Company: equivant Product: JWorks

Modifiable COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) CMS, JWorks adapts to business processes through con-

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figurable switches. The way information is presented is driven by user—case summaries, data snapshots, dashboard designs—most views can be personalized by staff role or individual preference so that everyone who uses JWorks can get

• Personalized dashboards and screens get staff and stakeholders to the information needed.

• Built-in workflow saves steps and keeps cases moving.

• Third-party integration is simplified using the API (applications programming interface) library.

Contact Info: 800.406.4333 info@equivant.com www.equivant.com

to information most important to them. Configures milestones, events, supporting tasks, and alerts/reminders to fully automate entire processes. Workflow engine efficiently routes assignments and deadlines to individuals/groups.

Supports quick/easy entry, maintenance, retrieval, reporting of cases at all stages.

Effectiveness: • JWorks is customizable without requiring software changes; business rules and other settings are adjustable by the customer.

• Having a workflow engine within JWorks means tasks are automat-

Company: Shadowtrack

“We set out to build a modern CMS capable of adapting to different court structures, rules, and processes— and we’re proud that JWorks is the culmination of that work.”

—Jeffrey Harmon, equivant General Manager

ically assigned and deadlines are tracked so nothing slips through the cracks.

• The ability to embed reports into JWorks screens makes it easy to deliver information exactly the way—and when—it’s needed.

Efficiencies Created:

Product: DiversionPlus

DiversionPlus module allows a user to manage enrollee cases, setting up program conditions based on case requirements. The user and enrollee can be notified of deadlines, meetings, classes, tests. User can be

notified if enrollee fails to complete required conditions by deadline, set up a reminder or follow-up. It allows processing payments for supervision, restitution and other fees, with ability to customize registers via Caseload tab which permits different payment types.

DiversionPlus can be paired with any Shadowtrack module for management of enrollees.

Effectiveness: • The automated random drug screens save time by notifying defendant via verified text messages simultaneously alerting lab to defendant's arrival.

• The combination of reports/charts to evaluate programs prove invaluable; also other features, such as automatic payments that include notifications for due payments.

• The BACtrack feature with facial recognition monitors alcohol usage by alerting defendant to

the need of a test, populating the results directly into the software.

Calendar links each defendant to scheduled events.

"The Shadowtrack DiversionPlus module is proving to be an invaluable tool in automating our activities and helping us to manage our cases effectively and efficiently.

The color-coding of how compliant each defendant is, allows us to easily prioritize our interactions with the defendants.”

—22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Diversion Program

Efficiencies Created: • Calendar feature manages enrollee upcoming appointments, court dates, etc., and can automatically send out reminder confirming arrival at proper location.

• Send scheduled/random customized notifications via text to speech, text messaging, email, uploaded voicemail; useful for court and probation appointment reminders.

• Generate automated mail merge letter to authorized labs notifying of enrollee information, lab requirements for testing, and date enrollee reports for testing.

Contact Info: 877.396.0385 info@shadowtrack.com www.shadowtrack.com

Company: Computing System Innovations (CSi) Product: Intellidact LBX

AI (artificial intelligence) software transforms processing of court documents, eliminating up to 90 percent of human labor spent on review, data validation, data entry

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and redaction for e-filed/scanned documents. Features user-trainable document separation, classification, data extraction, redaction and robotic process automation. Intellidact is trained by pointing and clicking on

example documents and data items to extract or redact. Once trained, it processes new documents, extracting data to automatically validate efilings/perform additional docketing data entry. Transforms unstructured document data to structured court data and adapts automatically to documents changes over time.

Contact Info: www.csisoft.com info@csisoft.com

Company: Extract Systems Product: Intelligent Redaction and Data Capture

Extract Platform composed of multiple modules can be configured to classify, separate, route, index,

and redact court documents. The blend of machine learning and rules-based logic enables users to eliminate time-consuming manual tasks, increase accuracy, and adapt to workflow peaks. As courts make more records available online Extract allows this more quickly and securely, providing a detailed analytics dashboard to track volume by

month, overall accuracy, accuracy by submitter and field.

Effectiveness: • A machine-learning rules engine that is constantly improving.

• Intelligent redaction that requires little to no verification.

• The ability to focus on constituents as opposed to clerical work.

Efficiencies Created: • Accurate and reliable • Artificial Intelligence is allowing courts to protect private information with a higher degree of accuracy than ever before • Reduces staff costs Contact Info: www.extractsystems.com 608.821.6520 info@extractsystems.com

Company: Journal Technologies Product: eCourt

Journal Technologies supplies case management software and products to courts, prosecutors, p u b l i c defenders, probation and other justice agencies serving over 500 courts and agencies in 42 states and three countries. The configurable, browserbased solutions do not require clients to change processes to fit the product, instead, the system is configured to their needs. This includes courtroom processing, judicial dashboards, dynamic searches, public portals, and more.

Contact Info: sales@journaltech.com 435.713.2100 journaltech.com February/March 2018 24

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BY DONNA ROG ERS , E D IT O R

State plans in development, new policies and the technology that can assist.

P

reparing for the worst, officials acted out a frightening scenario at the Dodge County Courthouse in Juneau, Wisconsin, this past Martin Luther King Day in which a gunman burst through security and began shooting people.

What was different from other recent shooting scenarios that have

played out in the news is that the part of the shooter was played by Dodge County Sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Potratz, and the “shooting” was an exercise to allow the county’s first responder community to test its ability to respond to an active shooting incident, noted Dodge County Emergency Management Director Amy Nehls in the Daily Citizen.

Staff from Dodge County as well as 24 other agencies participated.

Although the courthouse was closed for the federal holiday, Nehls said county employees were at work, and many of the state employees, such as the district attorney’s office and judges, volunteered to participate in the exercise.

While a trial was taking place on

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the second floor as part of the simulation, the exercise progressed with courthouse security witnessing a man jump the security line and run through the courthouse, shooting as he goes. One officer radioes for help and continues to staff the station while the other chases the gunman.

Eventually the man is neutralized, and the “wounded” and “dead” are attended to. The next day, fortunately, the courthouse can go back to its business as usual with a better understanding of what to do in a real situation. The exercise was the third part of a training series conducted in Dodge County that was paid for by a federal Homeland Security grant.

It’s long been known that courthouses are at the matrix of justice and the pushback from angry litigants who don’t agree with that delivery of justice. “There is a balance to be made between giving access and being welcoming to members of the public and keeping personnel safe. Courthouses are the scene of many highly emotional events which sometimes boil over into violence,” says Steve Kirby, founder of SecureTech Systems, Inc. an Irving, Texas, company that developed a wireless notification system.

“We know of incidents where members of the public take out their frustration at having to pay taxes or a fine on the people tasked with collecting the money. Defendants in courtrooms or Judge’s chambers are also known to become violent when they feel their case is not proceeding as they would like it to,” Kirby adds.

The technology his company developed, the WAVE Plus wireless incident notification system, instantly transmits a detailed message over the radios carried by law enforcement officers. In this way, the officers hear about the incident immediately and do not have to wait to be dispatched by a monitoring station

or dispatch center. This can speed up response time by several minutes at the onset of an emergency when seconds are critical, points out Kirby.

The WAVE Plus system is different from conventional systems, he furthers, because it uses the radio as a primary alarm. The system can

also send emails and text messages to other courthouse personnel so that they can take appropriate action, such as initiating a lockdown, as soon as an incident occurs.

Because it is a wireless system, it is easy to set up and expand even in historic courthouses. Kirby notes

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that the system is used primarily in courthouses, municipal buildings such as city halls and tax offices, colleges, schools and hospitals.

“Our system has been activated in many courthouses over the last 23 years,” Kirby states. Several years ago in a rural county in Arkansas, a man came to the courthouse intent on killing the Judge who had adjudicated his divorce, he relays. As he made his way through the courthouse, firing at anyone that he saw, personnel either called 911 on their phones or pushed the buttons associated with the WAVE system. The 911 calls were made while there were shots being fired in the courthouse.

The dispatcher knew that there was an active shooter in the courthouse, but did not understand which courthouse was under attack. They dispatched officers to the largest courthouse in the area, which was the wrong location. Fortunately, the WAVE system communicated directly with the Sheriff’s Office, which was nearby, and they responded immediately, he concludes.

The visibility of violence nationwide, including courthouse shootings, prompts courthouse security personnel to maintain continuous reviews of their security initiatives.

These evolving security threats leave little room for error and demand state-of-the-art security solutions, says Marilyn Thaxton, marketing manager, North America, CEIA USA. In response, she says, “CEIA USA understands the challenges of ensuring compliance with the high levels of courthouse security while allowing easy access to visitors and court employees.”

One of the greatest current challenges to court security includes “the lack of consistent or cohesive practices among many courthouse locations and security checkpoints.

This includes the ability of individual security checkpoints to ensure consistent and effective screening of

court visitors and employees while minimizing the impact or delay for the individual,” Thaxton asserts.

Critical advantages to CEIA USA metal detectors, she says, include discrimination, that is the ability to alarm for threat items such as guns and knives, while not alarming on innocuous items, like belts, watches, and keys. “CEIA walk-through metal detectors have the lowest Nuisance Alarm Rate (NAR) in the industry,” Thaxton states, translating into “the highest throughput in the industry and lines that move faster.”

She furthers that as far as detection, CEIA detectors meet and exceed international security levels. The detectors also feature immunity from electrical and mechanical interferences that can disrupt screening operations, which are seen as noise by the metal detectors. For higher accuracy, these metal detectors have built-in functions to recognize these noises and filter them without affecting screening operations.

State Level Achievements Numerous courts are stepping up to the threat and developing comprehensive security plans. Because courthouses must be accessible and are in centralized locations, they are vulnerable to acts of random violence, observes William Raftery, who is a senior knowledge and information services analyst with the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va. In a video piece called Court Buzz for the NCSC web page he notes that historically security has fallen to the local courts, and has been handled mainly by sheriffs and local law enforcement.

However, in the past 10-15 years court security is becoming more commonly viewed as a situation that requires input and participation from not only local judicial leaders but also requires state-level,

statewide plans and actions. Much of this change in attitude, he says, can be traced back to the 2005 shooting incident in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta.

Since then state legislatures have begun to set guidelines or standards with respect to security functions.

This might include, for instance, mandating the number of deputies or marshals that need to be present for a certain size facility. He also details that many state governments have created a director of court security to look at security as a statewide issue, reviewing best practices throughout the state.

At present, state legislatures or/and Administrative Office of the Courts are developing guidelines for how court security officers are certified, he furthers. For example, Texas has mandated that officer security officers must meet certain basic criteria; Kentucky and Arkansas have created a similar measure.

Another area stakeholders are working on is a national data reporting system for determining how many acts of violence occur annually. Raftery says most states are in process of creating court incidence reporting systems to collect information, though no national reporting or data collection system exists today. Reporting to a central repository to will allow them to finally grasp at the state level how many incidents are happening, which in turn will provide data to decisionmakers to earmark funding.

Two separate concerted efforts in Arizona and Texas are good examples of how states are moving to address these issues, furthers Raftery in his Fall 2017 Judicature Briefs at Duke.edu. Arizona created statewide standards, but continues to have a question of funding. Created by an administrative order issued by Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales in 2015, the Court Security Standards Committee was asked to survey

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existing court security measures in the state and to recommend statewide standards for courthouse security, courtroom security, and security officer training. The Brief details: “Those recommendations included the development of statewide policies on a host of issues ranging from entry screening practices and equipment to requiring the establishment of court security committees and a process by which all courts would have security assessment conducted on a regular basis. The committee’s recommendations were adopted by the state’s Judicial Council and an attempt was made to create a statewide court security fund in Arizona’s 2017 legislative session. The fund was to have been financed via a 2 percent increase on all court fees.” Ultimately, however, Raftery points out, the fund was not adopted; it was replaced with a one-time appropriation in the state’s budget for that year. He furthers that states appear to be divided on how to pay for security at the state level.

Indiana’s legislature in 2014 and 2015 debated the creation of a court security fund paid by proceeds from fees on civil and criminal cases. It was never passed. The House’s version would have placed money into a statewide court security fund controlled by the Indiana Supreme Court; the Senate wanted county-based funds controlled by county officials.

Administration. The 2017 law shifts this responsibility to the sheriff, constable, or other law enforcement agency providing security for the court. It also requires that the presiding judge of the court in which the incident occurred receive a copy of the report.

Texas law had already removed some of a judge’s personal information (including home address, family information, etc.) from public records. The new law removes personal information from an expanded list of agencies that are covered to include entities such as local voting registrars. It also specifies that “judge” includes local, limited jurisdiction judicial officers such as justices of the peace and municipal court judges as well as retired judges and others.

States have been taking an active stance against violence in their courthouses by mandating by statute policies to prevent catastrophic incidents. With frequent shooting incidents threatening our nation’s safety in schools, malls and other public buildings, courthouses must strive to set plans into motion and figure out a way to pay for their implementation. Violence has only been on the rise and it behooves us to get security plans firmly under way. CT

Texas Initiatives In 2015 Texas District Court Judge Julie Kocurek was the victim of an attempted assassination in her home driveway. Since then the state has been creating measures that tackle courthouse security from a variety of angles. In October 2016, the state’s Judicial Council released a review of court security in the state, 10 years after an initial report recommended statutory changes to improve the situation, according to Raftery’s Brief. In 2017, the Texas legislature enacted the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act, including several provisions that have already appeared in other states. These include a requirement for court officers to be certified with specialized training developed by the Office of Court Administration (OCA) and the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE).

The Act also requires each trial court to create a court security committee comprised of the presiding judge, local law enforcement and a representative of the county commission or municipal government. The committees are to adopt court security policies and procedures and make recommendations to local government for needed court security expenditures and resources.

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BY DONNA ROG ERS , E D IT O R

Remote Appearances Telephonic and video conferencing are reported to slash spending.

What are some of the options being offered?

Some of conferenencing technologies don’t need special equipment, having the potential to lower the barriers to communication.

REMOTE

APPEARANCES

can be very attractive to busy judicial professionals. The convenience appeals to attorneys who may have court appearances in several courts on a given day, and would prefer to forego the hassle with traffic, parking and/or security queues. It appeals to judges who may be in remote parts of the country or dealing with disruptive offenders. It can

even be used by litigants who may be at a distance or not willing to take a day off from work for a deposition, a brief hearing, arbitration, and/or mediation.

Travel is costly and with more and more demands being placed on courtroom budgets, tele/video conferencing is a solution that is helping to dramatically slash spending in this area, according to Iam Bennett,

marketing director with Justice AV Solutions (JAVS), a company that offers recording systems and system integration. “This is a benefit that is realized by almost everyone involved in the judicial process.

Should a litigant need to call an expert witness to testify, tele/video conferencing may provide access to someone who normally would be cost-prohibitive to have physically

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make an appearance in court.”

In 1995, the first turnkey Telephonic Court Appearance technology was developed by the company CourtCall. In the years since, it has expanded its reach to over 3,200 courts in 42 states. Numerous courts in California and the Los Angeles area connect with this service, along with extensive courts in the states of Florida, Illinois, Indiana and Texas, as well as those in Canada.

Through the years, a variety of other firms have come on board with teleconferencing solutions— both custom court systems and generic conferencing tools. Remote appearances are gaining a foothold in the courts as they realize the benefits of clearing dockets faster, limiting delays, easing case backlogs, lowering security requirements for inmates onsite, and even limiting their carbon footprint due to lower emissions from travel.

“Right now, we are seeing a high demand for systems that can be used in remote arraignment situations,” notes Bennett. And he says it is not only about money. “Although government entities are seeing a reduction in their transportation costs, we have found that both judges and officers have an added appreciation for the ability to provide inmates access to justice without the [security] risk of transportation to and from the courthouse.”

Remote appearance transmission channels occur via three communications schemes—telephonic, video and web. A report that describes each and is well worth taking a look at is the National Center for State Courts’ study Use of Telephonic and Video Conferencing Technology in Remote Court Appearances, a Supplemental Report to a State Justice Institute (SJI) published in June 2016. This report provides a summary review of current and emerging trends in technology for remote court appearances, and

offers suggestions for courts currently using, or considering, remote appearance technology.

The Report highlights three primary types of solutions for remote appearances, which have substantially different models and pricing. These categories are: market niche vendor, Unified Communications Solutions providers, and hybrid audio/video conferencing vendors (see sidebar on page 33). Here will focus mainly on market niche vendors.

Niche vendors focus exclusively on full-service telephonic or video services for court appearances, court reporting, depositions or other legal matters, according to the Report.

These vendors provide an end-toend solution that makes the conferencing seamless, and often an easier route, for the court.

Some of the niche market vendors the study looked at are: AppearByPhone/AppearByVideo, CourtCall, CourtRoom Connect, ATI (VCourt by streamWrite), Gore Brothers and LiveDeposition (By MegaMeeting). AppearByPhone, for example, is set up in a way in which the vendor has a representative that schedules the call and collects the payment. The payment can be done either through invoice or credit card.

The service allows attorneys to appear in court without being physically there for routine, non-evidentiary, pre-trial appearances without disrupting the business of the court, the company notes.

AppearByPhone states: We have a system of call queuing and operators that place the caller in front of the judge. The user can use a standard speaker phone on a landline, though VOIP lines are not recommended due to static they may emit (cell phones are prohibited), and no special software is needed. Our operators stand by during the call, if a judge allows you to have a private conference we can arrange a sidebar call so that you may communicate

privately with the judge and come back into the main call.

AppearByPhone offers dedicated operator-assisted calls or automated calls for all sessions. The firm sends faxed or emailed confirmations and follow-ups for all calls. They call the client to make use as easy as possible, though the option of the customer calling in is an option as well.

In 2014, AppearBy, LLC announced its newest offering AppearByVideo, which provides remote video appearance. It requires no special software, just a computer, a web browser and a broadband Internet connection.

New Partnership In order to add an enhanced layer of functionality to teleconferencing, several niche vendors have recently announced a partnership to bring a new solution to courts.

The collaboration consists of the Sonexis conference engine—the ConferenceManager2—and its dashboard interface tool, which allows for facilitating remote court appearances with a front end application called VCourt.

VCourt is one of several Justice Portals powered by streamWrite, an ATI Connect company. VCourt allows for case lookups, registering for appearances/events, and payment processing. Partner ATI Connect also acts as the professional services arm and provides the channel sales for VCourt and Sonexis.

Patrick Bahar, senior account executive with ATI Connect, notes that prior to 2014, courts had limited options for telephonic appearances, which placed reliance on an outside vendor for registering participants, taking payments and coordinating and moderating calls. With the inception of VCourt, courts now have a way to automate and host the telephonic appearance process, while having greater control and at the same time putting funds back February/March 2018x

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into their budgets. With classic type remote appearance systems, he relates, “There is typically little financial benefit to the court.”

The genesis of the VCourt solution began back in 2014 when ATI Connect co-developed a solution with a court in California. Instead of relying on an outside vendor, it was designed so that the court could seamlessly integrate and automate a telephonic appearance solution within the court’s environment.

This new collaboration works in the following way. VCourt permits case parties and attorneys to make virtual court appearances by telephone (not video), and allows court staff to easily manage those virtual appearances on Sonexis’ userfriendly Operator Console interface.

Users can go online as an attorney or a party to the case to sign up for a telephonic event. After they select their case, they are prompted to enter payment in the form of a credit card, and are then given a transaction ID including conference ID and PIN. “Registration is integrated with a court’s website,” says Bahar. We build the interface for participants to register and pay for appearances, he explains. VCourt provides registration and cancellation of telephonic appearances via the court's website and leverages the court's case management system and payment processor. VCourt produces daily reports for each courtroom, so hosts can see what is scheduled, as well as other administrative functions. It then sends out an email confirmation and a receipt with instructions, data and time and secure PIN. Finally, it sends out reminder notices.

During the live proceeding, VCourt provides a comprehensive session dashboard to enable court clerks to play host to the telephonic session; they can easily identify par-

ticipants (when each is speaking their name is highlighted in green), mute them, disconnect them or allow them private sessions with judge or other parties.

“Using this tool a dedicated moderator can manage multiple active virtual court rooms at a time—muting noisy lines, tending to participants who remotely ‘raise their hand’ for acknowledgement, etc.— as well as facilitate the transition between cases—privately prompting lines who are next on the docket and more,” according to the Sonexis web page. The calls can also be

recorded at will.

“The host in each courtroom has ultimate control over participants, it’s not managed by an operator in a call center somewhere,” Bahar points out. “That they have complete control is a big part of the value here,” adds Robert Haley, director of marketing, with Compunetix, Inc., the parent company of Sonexis. Working through a service provider will cede some control, Haley notes. “This is a court employee, a person aware of the call, who is much closer to the actual event and knows who’s on the call.”

In summary, Haley points out “the front end is the beauty” of the solution because all data from throughout the court system is fed to the ConferenceManager, and is comprehensively displayed so the host can easily manage it.

VCourt is offered as a cloud-based system or premise-based system integrated with the court’s phones depending on what the user prefers. Another important point, the system is reported to pay for itself quickly as the attorneys and litigants pay for their sessions.

Fees vary depending on state.

In California, for example, the fee charged to each party is $86 for billable case types, notes Bahar. “The court is able to keep the lion’s share of that,” and court customers relay that “return on investment is often six months or less.”

Selecting an Apt System Every court’s needs are different, and Bennett of JAVS has seen different solutions work for different courts.

“Many people are familiar with software-based conferencing soluJAVS has specified this Polycom tamperlike Skype, Webex, proof jail video conferencing unit for one of tions GoToMeeting, etc., and others might its clients.

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THREE PRIMARY REMOTE APPEARANCE TYPES There are three primary categories of service, which have substantially different service models and pricing. These three primary categories are: the "market niche" vendor, Unified Communication Solutions (UCS) providers with diverse products and services, and hybrid audio/video conferencing vendors.

The categories and major differentiations: • Niche vendors focus exclusively on full service telephonic and/or video services for court appearances; court reporting, and depositions and other legal matters.

• Unified Communications Service (UCS) providers, which include firms such as Polycom, TrueConf and Adobe Connect, deliver products and services ranging from specific legal/criminal justice use-cases to audio/video products that could be adjusted for various court use-cases.

While these services are not generally custom-tailored for the legal market, notes the NCSC Report, “they can be very effective for combining communication and business process workflows for efficiency. Solutions for the justice sector are often components of largescale hardware/software implementations with multi-party and multi-purpose functionality.”

• Conferencing platform vendors provide an array of products that aren’t specifically targeted at the legal sector but have been and could continue to be successfully implemented in courts using cloud-based, desktop, managed in house servers and open systems for custom development. Software development kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) can be used to build customtailored apps for varying cost. Some are feasible for broad scale adoption while others may be prohibitively expensive at the vendor setup or custom implementation level.

The number of vendors that can be classed in this space vary from small- to enterprise-level companies delivering a multitude of video and teleconferencing services that range from on-premise servers and desktop applications to cloud-based platforms that run within a browser.

Examples include: Zoom, Join.Me, WebEx (by Cisco), VSee, Skype (Microsoft), TrueConf Online (by TrueConf).

“Although these vendors do not custom tailor to the court and legal arena, these hybrid solutions provide several possibilities of customization,” the Report states. “These companies provide services that are inherently leaner, more ‘self-serve’ models. The customization does take additional effort on the court’s part to bring together the components needed for telephone and video use for remote appearances. They are reported to be significantly less expensive.”

Source: Use of Telephonic and Video conferencing Technology in Remote Court Appearances, a Supplemental Report to a State Justice Institute study

also have a familiarity with the hardware-based offerings from providers like Polycom and Cisco,” he says.

“While these are all viable options, there are potential advantages and disadvantages to every setup. The challenges arise when courtrooms and prisons start to work through not only their needs, but how a potential system might be integrated with existing AV technology, what additional hardware is needed, how will the system be maintained, etc.

“Challenging questions must be answered, and these answers will help shape the type of system needed,” Bennett states. Some of the questions they might ask themselves are: “Will conversations be strictly 1-to-1 or will there be a need for multiple participants? Can the solution be integrated with existing microphones, public address systems, cameras, televisions, assistive listening, or digital recording equipment?”

Bennett observes that choosing a system can be very confusing. “That is where AV integration partners like JAVS come in. We help ask the right questions so that clients can fully assess their needs. We then work directly with them to design, install, and maintain a system that rises to their challenges.”

Why use remote appearance?

Many observe that it is simple and convenient and saves time, stress, and money, while overcoming potential occurrence of violent outburst from offenders.

The ease and convenience of a turnkey solution, however, comes with considerable cost for the litigants, cautions the NCSC Report.

For example, a single video appearance with a vendor such as CourtCall averages $96 ($86 audio + 10 for video). A live CourtCall operator prepares a calendar for that Continued on page 37 February/March 2018x

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BY MI C H A EL G ROH S , CO N T R I B U T I N G E D IT O R

Opiates for the Masses How is it impacting your Court?

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THE PROBLEM

seems to be an American one.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, from 1991 to 2011, the number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies tripled from 76 million to nearly 220 million. The U.S. consumes 80% of the world’s opioids. Between 2006 and 2016, 21 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills were sent to just two pharmacies in Williamson, West Virginia, a town with a population of 3,191. According to a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study, in 2012 in Hawaii, doctors wrote 52 opioid prescriptions for every 100 people. The statistic is important because it was the fewest amount of any state. Alabama was highest with 143 prescriptions per 100 people.

The epidemic is a public health crisis. It is so bad that according to the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the CDC, the U.S. Life Expectancy has dropped for the second year in a row. That has not happened since the early 1960s when a spike in flu deaths was likely to blame. In 2014, 78 Americans died every day from an opioid overdose. That is 28,470 cases. At the time that was more than any year on record. According to the CDC, two years later that number was 63,600. That is more than how many American service members died in the Vietnam War. Drug overdoses have surpassed auto accidents as the leading cause of injury death in the United States.

Most involve prescription painkillers, but a growing number are the result of a heroin and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that people with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) often pursue when their prescriptions run out. It is not an urban phenomenon either. Some of the largest concentrations of deaths were in Appalachia, the Southwest,

and rural areas in which access to treatment, especially medicationassisted treatment, which is often required for rehabilitation, is limited.

In urban areas there may be more resources to help, but there are not enough of them.

Scenes of parents overdosing have gone viral. In one, a crying four year old in Frozen pajamas pulls at her mother as she lay in the aisle of a Family Dollar store in Massachusetts. Prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge her with a drug related offense, and overdosing itself is not a crime, but she was charged with child endangerment. She pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to treatment, drug testing, and probation. In another, a married couple in Memphis was recorded writhing on the sidewalk.

The two were revived by paramedics and have since divorced. The woman was arrested on outstanding petty theft charges. Another viral photo from East Liverpool, Ohio, showed two adults overdosing as a four-year-old boy sat in the back seat of the car. After the event, the man was charged with driving under the influence and child endangerment. He was sentenced to 360 days in jail. The woman, the boy’s grandmother, was sentenced to 180 days. The boy’s great aunt and great uncle were awarded custody. The common thread is all of these cases involved the courts.

Michelle White, principal court consultant at the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), notes that traces of the epidemic can be seen on every type of docket. Opiaterelated arrests have skyrocketed.

Many court dockets and probation caseloads are filled with individuals with opioid-use disorders. (In 2014, 1.9 million Americans had a substance-use disorder involving prescription pain relievers, and 586,000 had a substance-use disorder involving heroin.) The financial

impact is enormous. In 2015 the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services began providing about $30 million in substance-abuse treatment in the state’s prisons, $4 million on housing for individuals in recovery, and $1 million over two years for naloxone to reverse drug overdoses. The State Highway Patrol spent over $2 million expanding and improving their crime lab to keep up with substance testing.

‘It’s a Tsunami’ It is not only a public health matter. Courts are the backbone of a law and order society, and the nation’s courts are under enormous stress because of the epidemic. Everyone has heard the term “flooding the courts.” The opioid epidemic is worse. As Chief Justice of Indiana Supreme Court Loretta H. Rush says, “It’s a tsunami. I’ve never seen anything like this.” She points out that it is not just a criminal matter. It is also a matter for debt cases, guardianship cases, and commitment cases for situations in which a family may have a member who had overdosed numerous times, and the family wants to force them into hospitalization. There are legal considerations such as interstate families and getting children across state lines. In Indiana, foster care cases have doubled. Courts, she says, are seeing it across the spectrum. She notes, though, that the judiciary does have levers to pull, and the courts have an important role in finding solutions.

White concurs that the impact affects every aspect of public safety and the judicial system. She points out the effect it has on court involved people. Probation workers and child welfare workers have significantly larger workloads. There are also fewer foster homes available. Most people are familiar with the emoFebruary/March 2018x

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tional impact first responders encounter. Court personnel are also affected by their day-to-day jobs. An Administration for Children and Families report found that nearly 75% of states reported a rise in the number of children entering foster care from 2014 to 2015. From 2012 to 2016, the percentage of removals as a result of parental substance abuse increased 13% to 32.2%.

What Courts Are Doing In response to the epidemic, state court leaders formed a task force to find solutions, examine current efforts, and make recommendations to address the opioid epidemic’s ongoing impact on the justice system. The NCSC, on behalf of the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators, jointly adopted a policy resolution at their annual conference to establish the task force. Chief Justice Rush and Tennessee State Court Administrator Deborah Taylor Tate are co-chairs. The task force will document current inter-branch activities to address the epidemic and make further recommendations.

The work plan for the judicial branch task force includes convening representatives from state and federal government as well as national organizations to share strategies and identify needs, creating partnerships with entities addressing the impact of opioids on children with specific emphasis on foster care, assisting state courts in developing opioid task forces, working with existing state task forces to make recommendations for local response efforts, developing guiding principles that state courts can use for successful collaboration among treatment providers, criminal justice systems, and child welfare agencies, and creating a checklist of state legislation, policy, and court rules that

aid or inhibit response effort.

Chief Justice Rush says that important elements to address the epidemic include ramping up treatment that begins in jail. A problem, she says, is when someone is released after a period of incarceration without treatment, their tolerance is down, and they are released and overdose. Drug courts have been studied extensively and have shown profound success in treating people with SUD. In 2016, Buffalo, N.Y., experienced 300 overdose deaths and is now experimenting with the nation's first opioid crisis intervention court, which can get users into treatment within hours of their arrest, requires daily check-ins with a judge, and puts participants on strict curfews. The primary goal, rather than the administration of justice, is “keeping defendants alive.” City Court Judge Craig Hannah presides over the program, which is funded with a three-year $300,000 grant from the United States Justice Department. The intention is to treat 200 people in a year and provide a model that can be used as a template for other cities.

One tactic Justice Rush stresses is judicial education. Barbara J. Pariente, Florida Supreme Court Justice agrees, and stresses that the time to act is now. On the Court’s website she posted actions that can be taken immediately to address the crisis with which opioids are affecting the courts.

Actions include requesting and seeking out judicial education regarding education, understanding psychopharmacology, addiction, and substance abuse treatment, learning the purpose of and best practices for medically-assisted treatment, and understanding the ramifications opioid treatment will have on the Adoption and Safe Families Act. Judicial leadership should also create a trauma-responsive environment and identify gaps in services and needed funding and resources.

The judiciary, she says, should also coordinate all related cases involving one family to ensure that judicial decision-making is based on comprehensive information about a family as well as reading case documents through a trauma lens and use trauma-responsive court practices to ensure the gathering of necessary information to make good decisions, make determinations regarding the best interests of the child in child abuse and neglect proceedings with an understanding of opioid addiction and treatment, and hold treatment providers accountable for using evidence-based treatment models.

It is that sort of cooperation, innovation, and information sharing that Chief Justice Rush says is needed.

“We need to develop family recovery courts.” For example, if a child is placed in foster care, the court should consider what kind of treatment there should be for the mother so she does not deliver another drug addicted baby. Information sharing across jurisdictions, developing new drug courts, and promoting regulation of treatment are those levers the judiciary can use.

The wound from the epidemic is deep. In the summer of 2016, a multi-state, regional summit convened in Cincinnati. Over 150 attendees who represented states at ground zero of the opioid epidemic, largely in Appalachia, met to discuss the impact of the opioid epidemic in the region. Summit delegates developed a regional action plan with strategies to combat the opioid epidemic and formed the Regional Judicial Opioid Initiative (RJOI). “The opioid problem confronting this region does not recognize geographical, political or governmental boundaries and is simultaneously a criminal justice, public health, family disintegration and social service crisis that necessitates multiple approaches and multiple solutions.” CT

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Continued from page 33

Continued from page 16

day’s litigants, and the operator will connect the judge and litigant and handle adding/dropping parties.

The Report states: This fee is not considered a filing fee and is set contractually at $86 plus a $10 service fee, $20 of which typically goes to a trial court fund (though prices in other jurisdictions range from $59 to +$120). CourtCall provides any equipment required to use its platform at no cost to the court and court staff receive a brief training. Lawyers and litigants pay for the service.

“More likely,” notes the Report, “is that the cost is passed from lawyer to litigant as an expense charge.

Therefore, with no cost to courts and a pass-through cost for attorneys the cost of this system for the courts is paid entirely by the litigants. For selfrepresented indigent litigants this option, that could actually provide greater access, is cost prohibitive.”

So, in the end, is telephonic/video appearance limiting, or is it more inclusive?

Haley sees the ability to communicate in these ways as giving broader communications access to more people. “Some of these technologies don’t need special equipment,” he says. “It allows us to connect anywhere and anytime. It lowers the barriers to communication…[and] ultimately it will democratize that kind of communication.

“I absolutely see these kinds of technologies in the court system,” he continues. “The next iteration of communications in court is use of video. I can see the WebRTC technology to deliver the video directly in the browser window as the evolution in this industry.”

Bahar of ATI concurs. “We are already seeing some demand for video arraignments and appearances in the court system. It is in our future plans. It is driven by market demand and we are seeing more and more demand. It is really just a matter of time.” CT

with any design and text. Metals include bronze, brass, nickel-silver, and copper. They also make 3-D and engraved mahogany, multi-color painted, and gold and silver-leafed gilded wall and podium plaques.

These can be personalized with name and custom artwork. Plaques are available from one to eight feet in diameter. The plaques are lightweight, easy to hang and are affordable. www.woodmetalplaques.com/cus tomers/court-seal-plaques, 1.951.698.8484

AI Software Artificial intelligence software is transforming the very nature of how courts process information.

Intellidact LBX is the AI software platform for court documents, converting unstructured document filings into structured data, rapidly automating traditional court clerk processes. Intellidact software robots

the most rigorous target discrimination and throughput specifications. www.autoclear.com, 1.800.231.6414

Monitoring Package The Shadowtrack biometric platform is a powerful community supervision package that includes a suite of comprehensive compliance services, that can be implemented individually or as a complete solution with no geographical restrictions. The suite consists of these core elements and services: voice verification, facial recognition and mobile application. Core Services include: curfew management, enhanced random drug test notifications with message verification delivery, random sobriety testing and pretrial/diversion management. www.shadowtrack.com, 1.985.867.3771

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then perform application navigation and automated data entry, providing lights out 24x7x365 court document processing. www.csisoft.com, 1.407.598.1861

Metal Detection Fed-Labs metal detection equipment secures high-traffic, high-risk venues such as government buildings and correctional facilities. From portals capable of spotting hard-to-find weapons and threats as small as a needle to a selection of versatile handheld units, these detectors deliver outstanding performance. Whether performing routine high-traffic entry and exit screening to searching for hidden weapons or preventing theft, there’s a Fed-Labs metal detector that meets

Alkermes ..............................6 Art Signworks ......................4 CEIA, USA...........................27 cFive Solutions, formerly Capita Technologies ......11 Computing System Innovations ....................23 Equivant.............................21 Infax.....................................5 Justice Systems ..................24 Mvix ...................................25 Ontario Systems ................17 ShadowTrack Technologies ..................13 StunCuff Enterprises, Inc. .............29 Thomson Reuters.................2 Tribridge ......................38, 39 Tybera ................................15 Tyler Technologies.........1, 40 This advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers only. The publisher does not assume liability for errors or omissions.

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C O U RTS I N T H E M E D I A PHOTO Š BRUCE DAMONTE

SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY OPENS The San Diego Central Courthouse consolidates San Diego County’s criminal trial, family, and civil courts into a 25-story downtown tower. The $555 million, 71-courtroom facility, which was completed in October 2017 and was opened to court business in December, was designed by the San Francisco office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) LLP. In the spirit of civic buildings with a strong but accommodating presence, SOM's design integrates this formal repertoire with a language of robust subtractive massing that encloses a secure and welcoming interior.

The courthouse comprises a tower and podium clad in precast concrete, as well as a public plaza. Located on a former brownfield at the intersection of Union and C Streets, the project is designed as a catalyst for an emerging government district.

The soffit at its crown shades the building during the morning hours, and also captures and reflects southern and western light back onto the underside of the structure's surface. Both practical and symbolic, says the architect, this luminous design feature celebrates the San Diego skyline.