The Justice System is Prime for Innovation

As a former police officer, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in the justice courts system as a party to the process. I remember on numerous occasions, arriving to court, only to be advised that the case had been rescheduled, or, only after arriving, being advised that a specific item of evidence was supposed to be brought to court.?

According to a report from the Thomson Reuters Institute 2023 State of the Courts Report, as much as 79% in some instances — of judges and court professionals are experiencing delays in their hearings.

Ask anyone who has spent time in the justice system and they will tell you that the lack of innovative technology only exacerbates the disjointed and antiquated experience. From lack of efficient communication to painstaking delays, the justice system is riddled with redundancy, limited functionality in case management, and the lack of modern capabilities needed to create a better experience for all those involved.

Similarly, Gartner’s Top Trend in Public Safety and Justice Report finds that it is imperative to create and implement strategies, frameworks, processes, and practices that leverage new technologies and trends to enable the transformation of justice and public safety organizations. But still, the justice system has struggled to adapt.

How Did We Get Here?

Over the past 10 years, The US Immigration Courts have seen a 146% increase in their caseloads, for example. Increased caseloads, paper-based processes, and lack of resources, when coupled with a delay to innovate, have led to actual delays in the justice process. This means a poor experience for all those involved, not to mention time and money wasted.?

Due to COVID-19, many court systems had to meet on a virtual platform for judicial proceedings because of social distancing, but did so while still using paper-based, manual back-end processes. Still, very little was done to actually modernize the court architecture. It became even clearer that modernization is necessary, but must be done with proper planning, strategy, and investments.?

Innovation in the Justice System

The justice system will need to take a platform approach to achieve true digital transformation. By investing in a platform with solutions that service not only the courts, but overall create a better experience and streamlined process for attorneys, witnesses, defendants, the public, and all other parties that support the justice ecosystem, will they then be able to provide transparency and helps fill the workforce gap with automation.

In my opinion, a cloud-based platform has the potential to revolutionize the case management process, in particular, which would provide a much-needed disruption in an industry that has limited technology solution options and a historical lack of innovation in the justice system, overall.

Imagine all case information in one place, a centralized repository with integration to external systems, and legal databases, to name a few, where those who need access have it. When case management is moved to the cloud, it becomes easier to automate case assignments and gain greater visibility into the overall workload. In addition to more unified and organized data, attorneys and support staff gain greater efficiency and accuracy.

This level of data visibility creates a more integrated ecosystem and builds confidence in our justice system with technology. With a system that doesn’t cause constituents to repeat steps, important details are not missed, and communication is clear and on time. Imagine greater trust and transparency, which is what we’re all striving to deliver to our constituents.?

Whether you are a court system, a public defender's office, a prosecutor's office, or one of the many other supporting agencies that make the wheels of justice turn, every justice system is in need of a management system that organizes and streamlines their day-to-day operations.

Salesforce for Justice Case Management

Salesforce is more than just a CRM; I’ve seen firsthand the impact the platform has had on this industry.?

I left my previous role in law enforcement to work for Salesforce because I believe it has the capability to greatly improve a number of processes across public safety and justice, case management being one.?

The Salesforce platform provides a searchable, secure location to view all case data and related interactions. It integrates critical data points across the case management life cycle in one centralized location, regardless of where they may have originally been generated or stored. This 360-degree view of every case allows service agents to effectively streamline and manage resolution workflows.

A cloud platform opens up access to a complete product suite that helps teams work better together. The Salesforce platform can be more than just a point solution for justice case management; the true benefit that I’ve recognized is best-in-class products that are a part of one system.?

From just-in-time communications such as notifications and announcements, courts can increase appearance rates and reduce case delays. Similarly, with reporting and analytics, automation, and AI, courts can surface deep insights and improve processes. Last and perhaps most importantly, with integration capabilities, courts can experience a truly integrated justice system where prosecutors, law enforcement, public defenders, and the courts work seamlessly to reduce duplicate data entry, avoid mistakes, and improve overall efficiency.

I believe that Salesforce can disrupt the current status quo of software solutions in the justice system marketplace in hopes of spurring innovation and modernization in a critical area of our governance as a society.