CCPIO New Media and the Courts Report 2013

• NCJ Number: 243535
• Author(s): Christopher J. Davey; Carol Taylor
• Date Published: August 2013
• Length: 33 pages
• Corporate Author: National Ctr for State Courts; Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO); E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University
• Sale Source: Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO)
• Publication Format: Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents the results of a survey examining how the use of new media has affected the courts through the eyes of judges and court personnel.

Abstract

This report from the Conference of Court Public Information Officers (CCPIO) presents the results of a survey that examined how the use of new media has affected courts as seen through the eyes of judges and court personnel. Highlights of the survey's findings include the following: the courts' use of Facebook declined slightly in 2013 to 11.3 percent from a high of 13.2 percent in 2012; Twitter and Facebook were the most popular tools among courts; 45 States and the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico have all developed a courtroom policy regulating at least one social media tool; and most respondents agreed that mobile devices should be prohibited from courtrooms, while a large percentage believed that the general public and litigants should not be permitted to silently communicate in any way from the courtroom. Additional findings cover the presence of traditional media in the courtroom and individual professional use of social media. This survey was conducted by the CCPIO to determine the extent to which the use of new forms of social media had affected the operation of courts and how judges and court personnel feel about these changes. The survey asked judges and court personnel in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico about their experiences with new media in the courtroom and how this use has changed the administration of justice. A total of 1,550 judges and court personnel responded to the survey which was sent via email to individuals in the National Center for State Courts email distribution system. The findings from the survey indicate that new forms of social media in the courtroom continue to present challenges to judges and court personnel as they work to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system. Tables, figures, and appendixes