Courts to undergo £1bn digital reform after successful pilots
by Owen Bowcott Legal affairs correspondent from Technology | The Guardian on (#1TS9T)
Widespread use of video-links for victims and witnesses, and online guilty pleas for fare-dodging are part of plans to modernise delivery of justice
Vulnerable victims and witnesses will no longer have to appear in court to give evidence and fare dodgers will be able to plead guilty and pay fines online under new reforms.
The radical changes to court procedures in England and Wales are part of a 1bn programme to modernise the courts announced jointly by the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the senior president of tribunals, Sir Ernest Ryder, and the new justice secretary, Elizabeth Truss, on Thursday.
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