Video Conferencing Expedites Court Arraignments and Helps to Bring Families
Closer Together
Key advancements in Internet Protocol (IP) networks, PC processors, bandwidth
and video conferencing software have all assisted in bringing web and video
conferencing to business and governments around the world. Among the many
applications of this technology here in the U.S., IP-based video is being used
to help speed court hearings, depositions and bring families separated by law or
incarceration together more often.
Video Visitation
Video technology is now powering one-to-one and multiparty video visitation in
prisons and bringing parents and children who may live thousands of miles apart
together to spend quality time virtually. For prisons, not only does video help
inmates connect with family members, it also helps reduce costs for the
correctional facility, increases public safety efforts and expedites the
judicial process.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections may be one system that is on the
cutting edge when it comes to adopting video technology to help reduce
operational costs. Through a joint partnership with the Administrative Office of
the Courts, Office of the Public Defender, the State Parole Board and private
vendors, a system-wide and alternative approach to criminal justice proceedings
has been implemented in New Jersey successfully.
Major objectives for the Video Teleconferencing Program in New Jersey include
providing system-wide access to the inmate population for criminal justice
systems at all levels, State, County, Local and Federal, enabling each to
conduct business in a more efficient manner. But beyond the business operations
efficiency, there are other inmate benefits afforded by the Video
Teleconferencing Program, especially for inmates in the Edna Mahan Correction
Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, and the New Community Corporation’s
Harmony House in Newark. This extension of the program is a natural progression
in both expanding services to inmates while keeping security in tact for the
general public.
The benefits of the program far outweigh any disadvantages. It has been
successful in enabling inmates to connect with their children that because of
transportation issues, etc., are unable to keep regularly scheduled visits. A
central videoconferencing site for family members is located in downtown Newark.
Not only is this a cost-effective and convenient alternative to in-person
visits, it encourages family responsibility in female offenders and further
cements the bond between mother and child.
Overburdened courts and busy attorneys throughout the country are realizing that
video conferencing can indeed help to speed the legal process by enabling
deposition and arraignment testimony to take place outside of the courtroom via
video.
Video Arraignment, Telecourt & Telejustice
The City Court and 14th Judicial District Court in Lake Charles, Louisiana, are
good examples of how IP-based video conferencing technology can accelerate the
judicial process by allowing judges to hold court proceedings, either
arraignments or “Assignment of Counsel”, remotely which eliminates the need to
transport prisoners to and from the courthouse or requiring judges and minute
clerks, who record the proceedings, to travel to the jail. During arraignment
proceedings, the judges in the District Court are able to see and hear the
inmates’ pleas in real-time while a minute clerk takes record of the arraignment
session. Before deploying video conferencing software, inmates were securely
transported to the courthouse for arraignment on previous misdemeanor charges.
The court in Lake Charles has increased the arraignments from approximately
eight to 30-50 per week. The 14th Judicial District Court and Lake Charles City
Court replaced a traditional, point-to-point video conferencing system that cost
more than $30,000 with inexpensive standard audio and video peripherals and PCs
found in any retail electronics store. The new IP-based video conferencing
system is easy to use, requires little or no training and minimal system
maintenance. (The 14th Judicial District Court and Lake Charles
City Courts are utilizing WiredRed’s
e/pop Web and Video
Conferencing software)
Video Conferencing Bridges Distance in Parent-Child Visits
The goal of video visitation, from a family and friend perspective, is staying
in touch. While it will never take the place of being there ‘in the flesh’ it
does provide the benefits of seeing and talking to the person you’re visiting
with as if you were in the same room. Virtual visitation is an evolving trend in
child custody arrangements. Families split apart by divorce may also be
separated by states, or in some cases, even countries. While electronic
communications, including email, instant messaging, telephone or other wired or
wireless technology can never take the place of communications and interaction
with a parent in-person, video visitation can be used to keep in touch on a
regular basis and to supplement in-person visits. Some states support the use of
video visitation as a means to interact and bridge the distance between
relocated children and their parents, some legal experts believe it may be used
as a reason to grant relocation to the custodial parent. For video visitation to
work effectively, states must develop specific requirements that do not allow
custodial parents to use new technology to relocate far away from the other
parent. The real end goal of visitation is to allow parents to visit with their
children, to provide more quality time and a more superior way to communicate.
Although the phone is better than nothing, it is one-dimensional and most would
agree that children under 12 have a difficult time holding a conversation for
any length of time. There is no disputing the fact that video visitation
provides a better platform, than the phone or email, for parents and children to
connect. And, it’s just one more way to bring parents and children closer
together despite geographic disparity.
Video Conferencing Alternatives
There are a variety of web and video conferencing alternatives. There are
traditional, point-to-point solutions that may offer only video and are
sometimes complex to install and use. These systems are very expensive, as the
14th Judicial District in Louisiana found out. There are also proprietary video
conferencing systems specially designed for use in court depositions and
prisons. One of the most flexible options is IP-based web and video
conferencing, which is available as a hosted service or on-premise software. The
advantage to buying and installing the web and video conferencing software is
the ability to control its use, secure the conference content behind the network
firewall and the Return on Investment (ROI). Depending on how often and how many
individuals will concurrently use the application, will ultimately define how
expensive it will be to use and operate regularly. IP-based web and video
conferencing utilizes the TCP//IP network protocol to connect users, generally
two ore more, between remote locations – either public or private Internet
connections. This solution also is the most cost-effective because it runs on
standard PCs, web browsers and high-speed Internet connections with
off-the-shelf video and audio peripherals.
Most IP-based web and video conferencing software solutions offer various
security options. Some of the best also include features that allow IT staff to
set encryption standards, such as SSL or TLS, and offer the ability to make
settings that require all conference connections be SSL/TLS secured. The ability
to integrate the web and video conferencing solution with the customer’s
existing Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is an added option that may be
available in some applications.
e/pop Web and Video Conferencing
WiredRed’s e/pop is a comprehensive IP-based web and video conferencing solution
that is available as a hosted service and on-premise software. It provides
security options that meet the most stringent security policies and is ideal for
real-time multiparty video conferences in any public or private sector
organization. It’s as easy to use as any Microsoft Office™ application and
software installation and deployment takes approximately five minutes because
e/pop has no third-party database and web server maintenance dependencies.
Video conferencing, once found only in boardrooms in large companies that could
afford the extra expense, is now being used throughout the world in a variety of
applications. The soft benefits of speeding up the judicial process and bringing
justice more quickly to those that are incarcerated, improving security, plus
more frequent communications between remote offices, and bringing staff or
family members closer together may be invaluable. But more importantly, video
conferencing is now providing hard cash savings to court systems.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
http://www.state.nj.us
http://www.orangecountyfl.net
http://www.14jdc.org
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