Courts to save millions with streamlined tech

Courts and police forces could save tens of millions of pounds thanks to technology to streamline the criminal justice system.

The 'CJ Know-How' system should help deliver "real savings" to the billions of pounds it costs to administer criminal justice in England and Wales, according to the CEO of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Peter Lewis.

The £7.2m secure web-based application pulls information together from police, CPS and court computer systems to chart defendants' progress.

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It provides a rapid snapshot of the criminal justice system allowing problems with offender management to be spotted and put right within weeks.

Lewis said previously it could have taken six months for problems to emerge, citing examples of wasted spending and manpower where defendants were sent back to custody without being properly dealt with in court.

In Cumbria, where the system has already been tested, it has helped realise £850,000 of savings through two initiatives to fast track the court and police cautions process.

It is able to scale up from individual courts or forces to provide an overview of regional performance, allowing different forces to learn from best practice elsewhere in the country.

Lewis said: "Cumbria is just one of 42 criminal justice areas in England and Wales and also one of the smallest. If they think they can save almost £1m, imagine what we could save across the country. This allows us to really focus our efforts and bring about some real change."

Justice minister Lord Hunt said: "The sharing of knowledge and information is one way we are going to go the extra mile and make improvements to our outcomes."

The system is being adopted by criminal justice staff across England and Wales. It has been in development since 2005 and is supplied by Logica and Northgate Public Services.