Court system aids joined-up justice

Portal and automatic messaging system saves time and reduces trauma

Rollout of the £20m Xhibit court information system has reached the halfway point, with 56 of England and Wales’ 101 Crown Courts using the new technology.

Xhibit includes an internet portal providing up-to-date information on the status of court hearings, and a message service so that people such as witnesses and police officers can be updated via email, text or pager.

The system saves time for court staff and police officers, and reduces the trauma for victims and witnesses by ensuring they are not kept waiting around.

‘All the information is now available electronically so that people can access
the progress of the case instantly via the internet, or have it sent directly to them,’ said Keith Budgen, director of the criminal justice delivery unit at Her Majesty’s Courts Service (HMCS).

The project is part of the wider criminal justice IT (CJIT) programme that aims to join up justice between the seven independent agencies of the criminal justice system. ‘This is at the heart of the CJIT programme because it is one of the first things that joins all the agencies together,’ said Budgen.

Xhibit is the first application to run on HMCS’s upgraded Link infrastructure, and is due to be rolled out nationwide by the end of March.

The business process implications are still being addressed, says Budgen.
‘There is a certain degree of business change needed to deliver the benefits of the system, and that is something we are working on,’ he said.

HMCS is appointing a business change manager to ensure that best practice learned by the early users is quickly adopted by new sites.

‘We need to make sure we do things the best way universally, because if we keep the old processes we won’t reap the significant benefits available,’ said Budgen.

Xhibit also provides a platform for future developments. An online case progression system, for example, will allow all professionals working on a case to log their progress.

‘This is a very powerful tool so we can see a case’s progression towards the trial date, and if there are any gaps the system will flag them up and generate a letter or email as appropriate,’ said Budgen.