The judicial system is not immune from the economic woes that have hit the country. Because of the State budget crisis, the Iowa Judicial Council is considering eliminating court reporters. Instead of having certified reporters to make a record of court proceedings, digital recording equipment would be used. The idea will be discussed on Monday in a closed door meeting.
The proponents of the switch believe that it is the best way to reduce the expense associated with court administration. The vast majority of the cost of court administration is in personnel expenses, specifically salaried positions. There are about 190 jobs at stake with the shift, each with a salary of $45,000 to $70,000 plus benefits.
Currently, only Alaska relies completely on recordings, but other States have eliminated court reporters from certain types of cases. In my practice only traffic cases and small claims proceedings use recordings, otherwise the record of the proceedings is produced by a certified reporter.
It don't like the fact that the meeting on Monday is "closed door". Usually that's a signal they will be doing something unpopular and don't want to listen to the dissenters. I also have serious concerns about any proposed switch away from our current system and think there are a lot of questions that need to be addressed. First, I am not convinced it will save any money. Outfitting all of Iowa's 99 counties with the kind of technology needed to record court proceedings would seem like a terribly expensive proposition. Would the larger counties, with larger dockets get better equipment? Who is responsible for making sure the equipment is working properly during a trial? What happens if there is a technical difficulty; is the record just lost? I cannot imagine criminal case going up on appeal just to discover the record doesn't exist because someone forgot to turn the microphone on. What happens when the attorneys move about the courtroom, will they still be heard? Will transcripts still be available or do we now reference a time code on the recording? If we are to still use transcripts, who makes them and who pays for that?How do you tell who is saying what, especially if people are talking over one another? One great thing about court reporters: they will let you know when you are doing something that makes the record unclear.
At this point it is probably too early to worry too much about this. It is all very preliminary. My hope is that our courts don't suffer because our government can't balance a budget and our economy is in the toilet. In criminal cases especially, we cannot afford to cut corners when it comes to justice.
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