Sealing Court Records: The How and the Why (Not)
June 26, 2014 by Ruth Reichard
Some cases are embarrassing for the parties involved—with free, easy public access to many court records via the Internet, some people rue the day they ever decided to go to the courthouse and file a case.
For a variety of reasons, the parties would rather their employers, in-laws, landlords, or bank loan officers were oblivious to [...]
2014 Legislative Review
June 26, 2014 by Editor
Editor’s Note: This report is a condensed version of the full report prepared by the Indiana Judicial Center (IJC) and only contains highlights of selected bills.
The IJC legislative report that contains summaries of all bills of interest passed in the 2014 session can be can be found at: http://indianacourts.us/blogs/legislative. The entire text of any [...]
Designating Criminal Cases after July 1, 2014
June 26, 2014 by Editor
New case types are coming when the Criminal Code Revision Act (H.E.A.1006) becomes effective on July 1, 2014 and the court reporting forms have been modified to accommodate the changes. You can preview the new QCSR form at: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/admin/files/courtmgmt-frm-court-2014-qcsr.pdf
On April 23, 2014, the Court approved the following case types to be used for felonies committed [...]
Improved but not perfect: Marion County Small Claims Courts two years later
June 26, 2014 by Elizabeth Daulton
In May 2012, the Marion County Small Claims Courts Task Force (“Task Force”) issued a report describing serious problems in the management and procedures of the county’s nine small claims courts. This report recommended a number of reform efforts—some of which could be accomplished by local court rule, and others which required legislative action. Before [...]
Indiana Probation Standards revised effective July 1st
June 26, 2014 by Editor
The Judicial Conference of Indiana Board of Directors voted unanimously at its March 2014 meeting to approve revisions to the Indiana Probation Standards. The revisions mark the first significant changes to the Probation Standards since 2001 and become effective on July 1st.
The Probation Officers Advisory Board worked on the revisions for two years, with [...]
Chief Justice Dickson Establishes Indiana Committee to Study Evidence-Based Pretrial Release
June 26, 2014 by Michael J. McMahon
A newly-established committee of the Supreme Court is working to help Indiana courts implement evidence-based practices for pretrial detention. In his order creating the Indiana Committee to Study Evidence-Based Pretrial Release, Chief Justice Dickson described its purpose:
Research is being done in the field of pre-trial release from detention in the criminal justice process. [...]
Judicial Clerkships for Recently Admitted Attorneys
April 25, 2014 by Hon. Heather A. Welch
At the fall 2013 Indiana Judicial Conference, Court of Appeals Judges Margret Robb and Patricia Riley informed trial court judges that together with Indiana’s law schools they had created a Judicial Law Clerk Program to assist new law school graduates and trial court judges. The law schools will identify recent law school graduates who [...]
Judicial Security
April 25, 2014 by Amanda Wishin
Gone are the days when people walk into most public buildings without some sort of security clearance. “It seems that not a month goes by when we hear of a tragic event occurring in the workplace, on a college or school campus, or in a public setting,” warns Indiana Supreme Court Sheriff Gary Miller.
As security [...]
New Online Services for Hoosier Mediators
April 25, 2014 by Lindsey Borschel
The Commission for Continuing Legal Education first compiled in 1997 a directory of registered mediators in Indiana. The idea was to provide a way for judges, attorneys, and litigants to find a mediator who practiced in a particular area of law and a particular part of the state. Seventeen years later, the list of [...]
Public opinion requested on possible court rule changes
April 25, 2014 by Editor
The Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure is interested in obtaining comments from judges, attorneys and the general public to the following proposed amendments to the Indiana Rules of Court:
Public access to court records
Amendments to Administrative Rule 9 to reorganize and clarify the rule
Appellate and trial rule changes related to Administrative [...]
