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New system to thwart docket thieves

In a move to go high-tech, the Justice Department has an electronic system that will link police stations, courts, the prisons and social development facilities, and enable them to manage criminal cases.

The departments of justice, correctional services, social development and safety and security launched the pilot project in parliament and hailed it as a solution to the disappearance of case documents and to the mismanagement of criminal cases.

The departments say the system will interact and control criminal cases from places of origin (police stations), through the adjudication process (justice department and constitutional development) until the accused is handed to the relevant authorities (correctional services and social development).

After the accused is arrested, his or her particulars will be entered into the computer by a police officer, who will be logged on to the system by a smartcard and fingerprints.

A picture of the accused will then be taken and fingerprints will be elctronically stored in the system.

The officer handling the case will electronically forward the particulars of the charge, the picture and the fingerprints to the office of the prosecutor, where the case will automatically be allocated a date and courtroom.

This information - except for the case file - will then be forwarded via computer to the magistrate. No papers will be used in court. Only photographs of evidence will be used in court, but backed up by the physical evidence if necessary.

Source: iol.co.za

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