Crim 215 Technology, Alternatives and the Future of Courts

1. Technology, Alternatives
and the Future of Courts

2. Technology
Advances in technology have made today’s courtrooms in to far
different places than courtrooms of the recent past. Many
courtrooms throughout the country have embraced high-
technology, seeking to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and
improve communications between all parties involved.

3. Uses for Technology
Electronic Filing
Database integration
Electronic discovery
Online depositions
High-tech evidence presentation
Court web logs

4. In class activity page 433 of the text book

5. Alternative Dispute Resolution
Alternative Dispute Resolution- refers to any means of settling
disputes outside of the courtroom.
There are several forms of formal alternative dispute resolution
that are used by the court system today, like arbitration and
mediation for example.

6. Mediation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_IIyeLhmF0

7. Mediation
Mediation- the attempt to help parties in a disagreement to hear
one another, to minimize the harm that can come from
disagreement, to maximize any area of agreement, and to find
a way of preventing the areas of disagreement from interfering
with the process of seeking a compromise or mutually agreed
outcome.

8. Arbitration
Arbitration- A simplified version of a trial without discovery and
with modified rules of evidence. Arbitration hearings are brief
in duration and the opinions are not made available to the
public. Arbitrations hearings are presided over by a single
arbitrator, a private neutral person, or a panel of arbitrators.

9. Mediation and Arbitration
Often times it is a requirement that a case proceed through a
court process of mediation and then arbitration before being
permitted to go to trial. This is done in order to preserve
resources and serve judicial economy.

10. Mediation in Criminal Cases
Victim-Offender Mediation- a version of mediation that consists
of a meeting between the victim and offender. This approach
differs from traditional mediation in that the underlying goal is
restorative justice, as opposed to resolving a dispute. The goal
is to repair the harm done by the crime.