They’re the Web sites for courts in Australia, England, New York and -- Riverside County. Riverside County Superior Court was included on the 2004 Top 10 Court Web Site Awards list compiled by Justice Served, a Eureka-based consulting firm that provides a variety of services for courts and justice agencies.
The selection was made after a review of 2,400 court Web sites, said Chris Crawford, Justice Served president.
Offering just one interactive court service online wasn’t enough to qualify a Web site as a semi-finalist for the award, Crawford said.
"It’s gotten so competitive that you have to offer more than one service," he said.
Justice Served first started the award in 1999. That year, about 100 Web sites worldwide were reviewed.
This year’s 10 winners with descriptions of their online services are posted on the Justice Served Web site.
Of Riverside County Superior Courts, it says, "This mixed general/limited jurisdiction court offers Web fine payments, calendars, files, self-help, interactive forms, interactive jury support and even the ability to order court reporters’ transcripts online. This is good e-government."
The online services offered by the courts in Riverside County are a valuable public service, especially in view of the county’s size and distance to courts for some people, Crawford said.
Online services improve public access to the courts and make it possible for people to get certain information and handle some legal matters without having to make trips to courthouses, Crawford said.
"Why not be able to do it anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home?" he said.
In California, the state courts Web site and the Web site for the Superior courts in Sacramento County also made the Top 10 list.
The California courts’ Web site was listed as a "welcome addition to the ‘best of’ club" because of services that include online forms, calendars, opinions, minutes, rules, links to Superior courts statewide, links to e-filing locations and a "top-notch" self-help tool in English and Spanish.
Riverside County Superior Court’s Web site was established in the late 1990s and has had new online services added almost every year.
More services are planned, said Gary Whitehead, director of information technology for the courts.
Whitehead said the next service added will be imaging of documents in civil cases so people can read documents without having to go to the courthouse.
"We’ll have that sometime before the end of the year," he said.
In addition to Riverside County’s and California’s court Web sites, people also have access to a new Web site launched in August.
Sponsored by the Public Interest Clearinghouse, California Indian Legal Services and other agencies, www.LawHelpCA.org provides online services aimed at Californians who cannot afford an attorney and need help navigating the state and federal court systems.
According to a recent study by the California Commission on Access to Justice, more than 70 percent of low-income Californians are without legal help -- a figure that is even greater in rural and immigrant communities.
The new Web site features legal information on civil issues, provides referrals to legal assistance in all 58 counties and offers help in federal law, such as immigration, bankruptcy, disability and civil rights.
The site was designed to complement the California Courts Self-Help Center, which the Judicial Council of California launched in 2001.
Autor: Christine Mahr
Quelle: The Desert Sun, 07.09.2004
