Making courts more accessible

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State Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal is making good on one of her goals from almost four years ago to bring the state court system into the technology age. Doing so will do much more than increase efficiency and eliminate errors, although those two accomplishments should not be diminished.

Having more court records available on the Internet will increase public access to the judicial system. Citizens, as well as lawyers and law enforcement officials, will be able to follow cases as they wind their way through the system. And the playing field ultimately will become more level as rural counties are able to gain greater access to information.

Chief Justice Toal was in Greenville County earlier last week as a new court management system went live. The system had been under development for two years, and as Toal explained, it will provide consistency within the court operations and eventually will make court information available 24-7 over the Internet.

Greenville was picked as the pilot because of the county's leadership. After Greenville, other pilot programs will be implemented in Richland and Pickens counties. Ultimately, the entire state court system will be involved.

Toal heaped praise on a number of Greenville County officials and employees, including Clerk of Court Paul Wickensimer, Chief Magistrate Diane Cagle and Information Technology Director Dale Rice. These officials and their staffs worked long hours, including many weekends, to convert to the new system.

Just a decade ago, Toal said, most word processing in courts across the state was done with typewriters. There were a number of court reporters who took court records in Gregg shorthand.

And even now, before the new system was rolled out in Greenville County, some information was entered between eight and 24 times, with each entry creating another opportunity for a mistake.

In tough budget times, most of the money for the new technology has come from a federal grant, obtained with the assistance of U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings and other members of the South Carolina congressional delegation.

By pushing this technology initiative, Chief Justice Toal has helped save money, create a more accurate and efficient system and bring more openness to the operations of state courts. She has helped move the court system from the pen-and-paper days to the technology age.