Courts to Test Using HP Tablets as Paper Replacement
UK lawyers will get tablets to use during court proceedings. Did someone just find a huge stash of HP TouchPads?
Norwich Crown Court is set to hold a mock trial to test a new tablet system that hopes to replace all paper in the courtroom with tablets. As part of the trial, 35 prosecutors in Norfolk given HP tablets to use instead of paper during court proceedings. Worth up to £1000-a-piece, the tablets scheme is expected to be rolled out across all Crown Prosecution Services departments sometime next year.
The Press Association reports that the scheme is an effort to save money. The tablets will at first be used in less serious cases in magistrates' courts before moving to crown courts. Eventually, courts across England and Wales will distribute tablets to judges, jurors and barristers. The roll-out is to start from April next year and CPS says it will save £50 million across the country by the time of the next parliament.
Though the cost of giving a £1000 tablet to every judge, juror and barrister will be high, Andrew Baxter, deputy chief Crown prosecutor for the East of England, told the Press Association that the price was nominal compared to the savings the scheme would bring, along with the 25 percent cuts the CPS will see over the next four years. Baxter added that hard copies of documents would still be available in the early stages of the scheme, just in case there are glitches.
It's not yet clear what kind of tablets will be used, nor which OS the devices will run. We'll update this post if this information becomes available.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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memadmax Nice. Here in the US it would be slightly harder to implement however. Hard copies of each finding would be required. Plus there would be court cases challenging the devices' credibility due to them being electronic and easy to manipulate.Reply -
KonstantinDK And how do they put seal and signatures on those? I mean there are e-signatures, but... Not all americans know what it means yet.Reply -
del35 They would be wiser to use a Toshiba Thrive. Why? User replaceable batteries and lots of connectivity.Reply -
damianrobertjones Dumb. Why £1000? Dell Latitude ST Slate.Reply
P.s. Android for business? No thank you. Active directory and group policy for the win. -
mcd023 um, instead of giving the tablet with the document that you want, couldn't you make a simple delivery system and just send them the doc and have it show up on a recently received list over the local network?Reply -
anony2004 leandrodafontouraFinally, the future is happeningSo true, the future is definitely here.Reply -
danwat1234 mcd023um, instead of giving the tablet with the document that you want, couldn't you make a simple delivery system and just send them the doc and have it show up on a recently received list over the local network?Reply
Yeah, I mean in Star Trek, an Ensign gives a tablet to the Lieutenant officer instead of just sending it to the Lieutenant's tablet, which doesn't make much sense either. Shipping tablets around will be costly. I bet the cost to run the Turbolifts in the Enterprise D would be a lot lower. -
mcd023um, instead of giving the tablet with the document that you want, couldn't you make a simple delivery system and just send them the doc and have it show up on a recently received list over the local network?Reply
danwat1234Yeah, I mean in Star Trek, an Ensign gives a tablet to the Lieutenant officer instead of just sending it to the Lieutenant's tablet, which doesn't make much sense either. Shipping tablets around will be costly. I bet the cost to run the Turbolifts in the Enterprise D would be a lot lower.
The problem with this approach is the shift of focus that occurs. Each tablet is designated a certain function and that function only. If we were to use your Star Trek example, the Ensign is probably only uses the tablet for data and not for processing of said data. Utilizing the tablet for more than one purpose is usually what creates confusion. If we're talking computers, I have one machine for gaming and another for work. If I started doing work on my gaming computer, believe me when I say I would resort to gaming when I really should only be doing work.