News

Benefits of Statewide Judicial Automation

December 31, 2006

The CPCMS project shares information with the Magisterial District Judge System and the Appellate Court System through a data hub. For the first time, all the levels of Pennsylvania’s courts can exchange information. Criminal and appellate court case information is available via the Internet at no cost to the counties, the public or the agencies that access the information. Possibilities for further data sharing exist as AOPC projects move forward. The following is a list of some of the many benefits currently being realized: • Court personnel, law enforcement and other JNET users are able to search for, view and run reports on warrants locally or throughout the state from both the common pleas and the magisterial district judge courts. • Court staff can record defendants’ aliases and identifiers such as scars, marks or tattoos. • Inmate location records from the state Department of Corrections and some county prisons are provided to assist sheriffs’ offices with inmate transportation and court scheduling. • Traffic conviction data is electronically transferred to PennDOT, streamlining the process of imposing drivers’ licenses penalties. • CPCMS saves tax dollars by significantly reducing the time needed for staff at the State Department of Auditor General to perform court audits. • Court collection and disbursement data is reported electronically to the Department of Revenue. • CPCMS shares information with the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing to provide case data to populate its system, which judges can use to determine sentencing guidelines. • CPCMS and MDJS provide a variety of automated accounting functions, some of which reduce errors in clerks of courts offices and magisterial district judge courts. • The Public Web portal reduces the requests for information to clerk of court offices by allowing the public and others to access case dockets sheets online. • The CPCMS calendaring function assists public defenders, attorneys and others in by providing court schedules online. • Most CPCMS users and secure docket sheet users are able to access statewide case information rather than inquiring county by county. These users also have access to and can review Case Accounting Reports, Court Summary Reports and Calendar Schedules through the secure portal Web site. • Tracking for trial date rules is available to assist district attorneys’ offices in meeting deadlines for defendants’ rights to a speedy trial. • Application support, user licenses and maintenance costs are paid for by the AOPC rather than by the local courts. The AOPC also provides technical staff for maintaining the application and the network, staff training, helpdesk services, and other user support at no cost to the counties. Note: the AOPC’s systems have safeguards in place to prevent public access to sensitive information. The systems also have a sophisticated audit trail of every user action that adds or modifies data and an off-site backup system to ensure data recovery in the event of a disaster.