NCJ Number
137426
Date Published
1991
Length
240 pages
Annotation
This manual helps courts plan for the automation of court records or enhance a current manual system, since a well-designed manual information system can become the foundation for future automation.
Abstract
A chapter on automation issues considers the rationale for automation, automation capabilities, and automation limitations. An examination of the diversity in juvenile courts concludes that there are common functions such as intake procedure, a pretrial procedure, an adjudication process, a dispositional hearing, and monitoring to ensure compliance with court orders. These common factors are the foundation on which a juvenile court information system can be built. A chapter on the uniqueness of the juvenile court workload focuses on nonjudicial case handling, review requirements, dependence on and oversight of agencies outside the legal system, the monitoring of service delivery, and administration. Following chapters on trial court and State court information exchange and national efforts to assist court-information-system development, design principles for juvenile court information systems are profiled. The first set of principles incorporates the goals of meeting the court's operation, management, and research needs. The second set pertains to the uses of management information that addresses the efficient and effective operation of the juvenile court. The third set focuses on the State court's use of juvenile court information and integrations, and the fourth set is associated with the structure of the database and the data input. The fifth set consists of general principles for an effective information system. Appended model guidelines, juvenile court information system modules, sample management output reports, and software advantages and disadvantages