iCourt: What you need to know about the new modernized court system
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IDAHO FALLS — Over the past three years Idaho courts have been transitioning to an electronic filling system to improve operations and accessibility to court information across the state.
The new system, iCourt, will be fully implemented in eastern Idaho on Oct. 9, finalizing the transition across the state. In June 2015, Twin Falls County launched the modernized electronic judicial system followed by Ada County in 2016. The effort is primarily to cut down on court paperwork in favor of digital records.
“While all changes of this magnitude take considerable time and effort, we are encouraged by the efficiencies we’ve seen in the counties that have already transitioned to iCourt,” said Sara Thomas, administrative director of Idaho courts. “This will only improve as all of our counties move onto this technology and gain familiarity with new processes. Once this happens, Idaho’s court system will be transformed to better serve all of our citizens and justice partners throughout the state.”
The final wave of the transition concludes with both the 6th and 7th Judicial Districts.
Officials say the largest impact will be to court employees who use the services regularly. But the transition also changes the public’s access to criminal and civil court records traditionally found on the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository website, which was built on technology that is no longer supported.
The end goal is to allow for court proceedings to move forward more quickly.
“There have been significant advances in technology which provide tremendous efficiencies the current system cannot deliver,” according to iCourt’s webpage.
In preparation for the transition from the paper based system to iCourt, court clerks will be training on the new systems. Also those who visit county courts on Oct. 4 and 5 may see delays as the paper records are uploaded into the computer systems.
Those wishing to view publicly available court documents can at a county courthouse on a kiosk. If someone viewing the kiosk would like to print a document, they can come to the clerk’s office and request a copy to be printed.
Once iCourt fully launches on Oct. 9 public court records will be accessible on the website.