E-Court: Technology Diffusion in Court Management

Court workflow automation has been proliferating in justice system of almost all jurisdictions around the world. The reasons, among others, are its efficiency in managing case files, retrieving case information within seconds, the effective integration between organizations and speedy justice dispensation. It allows justice to take place virtually using the advanced technologies electronic case management system (ECMS), electronic filing system, court recording and transcribing, immersive virtual environment for re-creation of crime scene, forensic investigation and so on. This paper divulges a result of a case study conducted in Malaysian court environment which adopts an integrated electronic court management system named E-Court. This qualitative case study focuses on the four main types of applications within E-Court project, namely the Electronic Filing System (EFS), the Case Management System (CMS), the Court Recording and Transcribing (CRT) and the Queue Management System (QMS). Data was collected through interview, survey and document analysis, in the busiest court in the country. The result demonstrates a significant improvement in terms of court workflow management, court information and records management and integration with other agencies. At the same time, a number of technological, operational and people issues arise out of this electronic court implementation.