The Florida’s State Attorney's Office for the Eighth Judicial Circuit has upgraded its forensic software that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to streamline efficiency for digital evidence management.
Last month, the office said they will now use a software platform called NICE Justice to allow officials to spend more time and energy prosecuting cases with automated digital evidence management.
The Department will specifically use NICE’s Evidencentral cloud-based platform with built-in AI and automation capabilities to manage digital evidence.
The goal of the software will be to digitally transform how the prosecutors’ offices manage various aspects of evidence including discovery, and digital evidence, while allowing officials to create work products and trial exhibits.
The platform includes several features such as automated case building, object detection, video and audio transcription and translation, optical character recognition (OCR), analytics, and finding evidence and case connections.
The program will also free up both physical and digital clutter. This decision should reduce the need to maintain discs, drives, and emails, while also reducing the need to log into multiple systems and programs to manage and prepare evidence.
This move also frees up a substantial amount of time for Prosecutors, attorneys, and other personnel to focus more on presenting convincing casework.
Streamlining these processes is essential as the office received an average of 26,000 evidence files per month in 2023 and works with 26 law enforcement partners who use different methods and evidence systems.
Brian S. Kramer, State Attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit, spoke about how the new software platform will allow the office to be more efficient and effective.
“With NICE Justice, our attorneys and staff will be able to redirect more time, energy and effort into prosecution-oriented activities, instead of managing digital evidence. In addition to supporting successful prosecutions, NICE Justice is going to help us move cases through the criminal justice system faster,” Kramer said in a statement.
Chris Wooten, Executive Vice President, NICE, also commented on the agreement.
“Whether you are prosecuting cases or defending clients, digital evidence is central to the truth. But as evidence volume and complexity grows, managing it the same old way is bogging everyone down,” Wooten said in a statement. : Whether trying to win criminal cases or defend them, with NICE Justice, everyone in the criminal justice system can work more efficiently and make decisions based on the full set of facts.”
Florida’s State Attorney's Office for the Eighth Judicial Circuit currently handles approximately 18,000 felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile cases annually.