Justice agencies share data

Pilot systems to be rolled out to 12 Magistrates Courts

Magistrates' Courts are piloting the data sharing system

The government is rolling out an information sharing system to courts in England and Wales as part of plans to boost local community involvement in the judicial process.

North Liverpool Community Justice Centre is the flagship of the policy to break cycles of re-offending by helping tailor sentencing for offences such as anti-social behaviour to individual defendants.

The EzGov Tracker software was developed to allow the agencies involved in community justice – judges, police, courts, probation and drug rehabilitation centres – to store and share information about offenders.

Following successful pilots, the scheme is being extended to 12 Magistrates’ Courts, including Bradford, Leicester and Kingston-upon-Hull.

By providing a repository of information from many sources, the system enables courts to make more informed decisions about what will work with individual people, says David Chambers, programme manager at the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which is overseeing the scheme.

Effective information sharing also allows sentences to be decided promptly, saving both time and money, he says.

‘Tracker makes it easier to assess the appropriate course of action for a specific defendant,’ said Chambers.

‘It supports a problem-solving approach and provides a holistic view of the person.

‘And it allows everyone in the community and the courtroom to tackle the underlying causes of crime and speed up the administrative processes.’ he said.

A crucial aspect of the Tracker software is that it enables each agency to choose which information is shared and can fit in with existing business processes.

‘Tracker supports a new way of working which is not about adjourning cases, but about making decisions quickly,’ said Chambers.

‘But putting application development at the core of business change builds in risk because if it goes wrong then the business process change will not work.’

The latest version of the system will include an updated reporting tool that increases the number of key reports it can produce from 10 to 42.