How virtual courtrooms decrease delays and increase access
Delays have become pervasive in the judicial system. Among judges and court professionals surveyed, 79% say they experience delays, and 18% of all hearings are experiencing some kind of delay.1
Delays can have a domino effect, causing scheduling issues with all hearing participants, overloading the court’s docket, and delaying other hearings down the line, causing further scheduling issues.
The quick adoption of virtual courtrooms in state and local government has begun to tackle some of these delays, while offering constituents greater access to the legal system.
Increasing participation
The primary cause of all court delays is the failure of one or more hearing participants to appear. This can be caused by a litigant forgetting or ignoring a court date, or a lack of access to the tools or representation needed for the hearing.
Virtual hearings seem to be alleviating this kind of delay, reportedly cutting the amount of failure-to-appear delays almost in half.1 In fact, 76% of court professionals agree that virtual court opportunities have increased access to justice.1
These improved results have led courtrooms around the U.S. to embrace virtual courtrooms and modernize their technology. State and local courtrooms must ensure their technology is up to the task of providing fair and transparent criminal and civil hearings for all constituents in need.
For example, low-income Americans do not get the legal help they need for 92% of their substantial civil legal problems.2 Virtual courts can create efficiencies that make access to the system within everyone’s reach.
Streamlining evidence management
The second most common reason for court delays is evidentiary issues.1 Virtual courts can reduce these delays through advances in solutions that speed up the way evidence is processed, stored, and delivered.
Cook County, Illinois, is currently facing the challenges of making evidence as digital and universally-accessible as virtual courtrooms have become. Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Chief Data officer Matthew Saniie told the Chicago Tribune, “Our (prosecutors) watch a lot of progress bars as a result of having to deal with these large pieces of evidence.”3
The county is now modernizing to process evidence more efficiently and incorporating a new evidence management system, after the Chicago Tribune revealed that the majority of murder cases in Cook County take four years or longer to resolve.4 During such long stretches of time, evidence can go missing, files can be corrupted, and file formats may lose support in evidence management solutions.
An evidence management system can help to maintain the chain-of-custody, seamlessly integrate into a virtual hearing, and ensure swift access to evidence for all required parties. Only 20% of courts have fully moved to a digital evidence management system so far, but two-thirds of the courts who haven’t made the move believe they would benefit from these systems.1
Decreasing clerical issues
Clerical issues cause many delays as well. Virtual courtrooms may be able to solve for many of the underlying challenges through process automation. According to Gartner, 60% of government organizations will prioritize business process automation by 2026.5
- Scheduling can be automated to seek court dates that work best for all participants, as well as other hearings that might have previously been delayed as a domino effect, before automation.
- Virtual court recording tools and transcription services can help with the shortage of stenographic court reporters.6
- The redaction of faces and other sensitive information from video evidence, when necessary, can now be automated by AI-assisted software, saving countless hours of editing.
- Enabling more staff to work remotely, when possible, can help with employee retention in key clerical positions.
Protecting it all
Virtual courts are making hearings more accessible and efficient, but with such sensitive data and processes, the courts must prioritize security.
State and local governments spent an average of $660K to remediate their last ransomware attack.7 Virtual courts could become an enticing target for such attacks when modernizing, and recovering from attacks could become a new source of delays.
Your partner in modernization
As state and local governments seek to modernize for virtual courtrooms, Lenovo stands ready as a proven partner for progress with solutions to defeat the delays.
- Increase participation with smarter collaboration tools.
Microsoft Teams helps everyone get more involved in judicial proceedings by connecting and attending securely from anywhere, while supporting more than 90 compliance standards and laws.
- Streamline evidence processing.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides a configurable case management platform to streamline docketing, proceedings, and document filing and sharing.
- Keep the court comfortable and focused.
Judges and clerks can manage packed dockets in comfort with the ergonomic, all-in-one ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 3 desktop, powered by Intel vPro® with the latest generation processors, a tiltable camera, and the industry’s first Teams large-room certification for collaboration.
- Keep staff flexible and mobile.
Ensure stronger connections for judicial professionals on the go with the Lenovo ThinkPad® T14, powered by up to Intel vPro® with the latest Intel® Core™ processors, and Windows 11 Pro.
- Protect it all.
ThinkShield provides your court with confidence in its ability to conduct safe, secure, and clear virtual hearings. Invest in devices that include Lenovo ThinkShield and Intel vPro® platform protection, including Intel® Hardware Shield, for hardware-assisted virtualization and encryption.
Discover how to reduce delays and simplify your constituents’ access to the legal system safely. Learn more on our Government page.
