County Court Records Are Now Online
Around 70 people have paid the $240 annual fee to access court records in Madison County. Mo. County clerk Matt Melucci says employees will not have to devote much time to helping residents look up the information from inside the county courthouse. “It will save a lot of driving and a lot of time,” he notes.
The online data consists of updates of various cases and does not have the actual text of a complaint or case’s argument. Jano Justice Systems in Jackson, Miss., is responsible for publishing the documents online.
The Center for Democracy and Technology is concerned that the Web ability could lead to identity theft or marketing or law enforcement accessing the information for inappropriate purposes.
County officials report that Sangamon, Will, Winnebago, DeKalb, and Kendall counties have also put their court records online, while Champaign County is expected to join up as well. An additional annual fee of $60 allows Internet users in Madison to access the other counties’ court records. Madison County also intends to send out court notices via email instead of by regular mail in order to save on postage costs.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (06/24/04); Parish, Norm .