In 2010 and 2011, the Judicial Conference of Indiana, along with the Indiana Department of Correction, implemented policies which mandated the use of the electronic version of the Indiana Youth Assessment System (IYAS) and the Indiana Risk Assessment System (IRAS) for juvenile and adult offenders under the supervision of probation, community corrections, problem-solving courts, court alcohol and drug programs, parole, and the Department of Correction. To date, nearly 152,000 risk assessments have been completed by these entities statewide in the on-line INcite Risk Assessment Application developed by JTAC. The success of the Risk Assessment Application has led JTAC to develop a companion INcite Application to house Indiana’s Presentence Investigation (PSI) Report.
The Judicial Conference of Indiana is responsible for developing a standard PSI Report to be used by all courts in Indiana. [IC 11-13-1-8(b)(4)] The PSI Report is used to gather social and legal history information about an offender and is a tool to assist the Judge in determining individualized sentencing options. In 2011, the Indiana Judicial Center and the Probation Officer Advisory Board worked to revise the standard PSI Report to incorporate additional details and risk assessment domain information. In conjunction with that project, JTAC began developing the revised PSI Report as a new INcite Application. On November 7, 2011, the PSI Application was deployed in a pilot phase to the following five Indiana probation departments in the following counties: Marion, Tippecanoe, Monroe, Dearborn and Blackford. On January 3, 2012, the PSI Application was made available statewide to over 850 probation officers. The Judicial Conference Board of Directors is requiring all probation departments to utilize the new INcite PSI Application.
The PSI Report along with the Abstract of Judgment and Sentencing Order (which are to be completed by the sentencing court) must be submitted to the Indiana Department of Correction (DOC) whenever a convicted person is sentenced to a term of imprisonment. [IC 35-38-1-14] Using INcite, DOC staff will have the ability to retrieve the PSI Report, prepared by the probation officer, directly from the INcite Application, resulting in cost savings, more efficient communication between courts and DOC and fewer resources expended to track down missing paperwork. Probation departments will be able to view completed PSI Reports statewide and, on repeat offenders, have the ability to create a new PSI report utilizing information stored from a previous report in the INcite system. This becomes invaluable when compiling the legal history of an offender. Prior to the PSI Application, probation departments throughout the state were completing PSI Reports independently of one another and did not share completed reports with other departments. After using the PSI application for the first time, Cathy Knight from Miami County declared, “Just did my first PSI on the new system…..and I love it!!!”
The next phase of JTAC’s project entails the development of an electronic version of the Abstract of Judgment, which will create the form required by statute whenever a defendant is sentenced to DOC. The court will have the ability to attach its Sentencing Order to the Abstract of Judgment enabling DOC staff to have at their fingertips all the information they need to expedite the processing of a person who has been sentenced to their department. When the Abstract of Judgment application is used statewide by all courts, comprehensive conviction and sentencing information will be readily available to courts, legislators, other policy makers and the public.
