Madaba First Instance Court Workshop on court activity management and the functioning of courts

The program “ Mizan ” is one of the management tools in courts. Mizan is an advanced program with limited complexity. It is a desktop application that can be connected to the computer software and files. The data is saved in a central database, which allows an easy support, an easy maintenance and an easy use of the data for statistics; it also allows a secure access to the data. Mizan program is used to help evaluating the judges’ workload and the workflow in the courts. Most of the work for the court procedures is carried out by this program, from the moment the case is recorded until the execution of the judgment, including the intermediate steps: determining the amount of the fees, sending this information to the judges, determining the date of the hearings, connecting the minutes (official report), postponing the cases… whether it is a civil case or a criminal case. This program also includes secondary programs concerning other tasks carried out by the courts such as the public notary program, the execution program, and the prosecutor program.

Through the Mizan program we can process all the phases linked to the types of cases below: 1. magistrates’ (conciliation) cases (criminal and legal). 2. First instance cases (criminal, misdemeanor or legal). 3. Requests (magistrates and first instance). 4. Appeal cases (the mandated instances, the mandated court of appeal in Amman). 5.The execution of legal cases. 6.The prosecutors’ investigations. 7.The prosecutor’s execution. And that, from the moment the case is recorded until the judgment and the execution of the judgment.

To ensure a JUST distribution of cases between the judges, the program sends the cases electronically to all the judges in turn, in an equal way, from lists established for all types of cases. The types of magistrates’ cases include 16 lists, for example: 1- harm cases list 2- robbery cases list 3- traffic cases list etc…

This program helps producing quickly accurate daily and periodic statistics concerning all types of courts and cases. This program enables to produce the notification documents which the “follow-up clerks” send to the bailiffs’ office, who is in charge of reaching the parties and notifying the decisions according to the bailiffs’ rules. This eases the litigation process and shortens the timeframe for the resolution of the litigation.

Mizan program provides a database containing data from the Civil Status and Passport Department: the complete names and the national identity numbers of the citizens. This database is periodically updated. It allows to check the identity of the parties involved in a case before recording it, which facilitates the procedure from the beginning to the execution of the judgment. Through this program, the amount of legal fees for magistrates’ and first instance judgments can be fixed electronically to make the execution of judgments easier. With a view to helping the court users and the lawyers, a number of clerks offices were created in Madaba First Instance Court to accelerate the procedures using the Mizan program, such as: 1- The Fees Office (which concerns the cases’ fees and the issuance of arrest warrants) 2- The Central Typing Office (which carries out the decisions’ typing, the execution procedures …).

The magistrates’ cases (criminal cases) are a clear example of an effective use of Mizan, since this program helps simplifying and organizing the court’s work: 1- Using this program, we can make lists of the cases which are resolved; after recording them in the relation (correspondence) register, they are sent to the prosecutor to do whatever is necessary according to the law. 2- After review of the cases by the prosecutor, the lists are handed over to the clerks in charge of the notifications, to produce the notification documents and to send them electronically to the bailiffs office. 3- The bailiffs office carries out the notification and enters (registers) it into the system. 4- At the expiration of the time limits for the objections and appeals, the clerk in charge of the notifications produces a summary of the judgement (criminal cases), and sends it to the execution office in the prosecutor’s department to execute the judgment.

5- The clerk in charge of the notifications enters (registers) the financial receipts in the Mizan program in the cases where fines have being paid or where a detention has being replaced by a fine. 6- In the case where the notification is returned because the sentenced person is not found, a form prepared by the Ministry of Justice is filled out with information about the sentenced person, the case number, and the summary of the judgment, for publication in the Official Bulletin. The form is then sent to the execution office to execute the judgment. 7- The clerk in charge of the notifications keeps a special record of those cases, which is sent to the archives’ employee to be saved. 8- The judgments and the financial receipts of all cases are archived.

The work carried out by the Quality and Institutional Development Department is another example of the effective use of the Mizan program: 1- This department is in charge of periodically controlling the tables of the court’s work, preparing a list of the resolved cases and a list of the hearings in order to check that the cases are correctly connected to the program. 2- At the end of every month, this department prepares an exhaustive inventory of all the judges’ work, and compiles a table containing information about the number of the registered and resolved cases that is sent to the technical office. 3- This department also receives the lists sent by the liaison officer of the Mizan program outlining the cases that are not connected to the program, and works on fixing this issue. We present bellow some examples of the Mizan program tables that can be produced by a Head of court or an employee from the Quality and Institutional Development Department:

Judgments’ hearings (sessions) presided by one judge in one month Searching sessions of cases Case numberparties selectionMagistrates’ casesCase numberMadaba Case typesession Session situationjudgment Incoming date Last hearing date Judge name Searching result Date of Session Case number Case DescriptionSession situation Judge nameClassification of case Juveniles casesJudgment Session Harm Simple Harm Searching result54 records searchCancelprintHelpout

One type of incoming cases during one month: Non-sufficient funds (NSF) checks Case searching Case informationParties informationNumber of receiptConnected casesPolice NumberSupport of case Case numberMadabaMagistratesSelection Incoming date from:|Incoming date to:| Case situation Classified Case situation Not finished (pending) Date of judgment fromDate of judgment to Type of caseCase classifiedNSF checksDelete JudgeSelection Case number Basic number Case description Case classification Case type Case situation Incoming date Start date of proceeding searchCase fileCase partiescancelprinthelpout

Sessions planning of a judge during one day Table of the judge work Dailyweekly Judge name Case situation- All Session report Session date - All Case fileconveyDeletedJudgment Determined hearing PrintBring Session time Case numberCourtSessionSession AimCase situation 9:00 am Madaba Magistrates Delayed hearing Completed Average sessions20 sessionsHelpout

Planning of the sessions (magistrates’ cases) of all the judges during one day HelpOut Table of court works Daily weekly Court situation Madaba court Magistrates Session reportCase fileconveyDeletedJudgment Determined session PrintBring Session date- AllSession timeCase numberCourtSessionSession AimCase situation 9:00 amCompleted Average sessions51 sessions

List of one type of incoming cases to one judge HelpOut Case informationParties informationNumber of receiptConnected casesPolice NumberSupport of case Case searching Incoming date from:| Incoming date to:| Incoming date from Date of judgment to Type of case Case classified Judge Selection Case situation Classified Case situation Delete Not finished Case numberBasic numberCase description Case classification Case type Case situation Incoming dateDate- first litigation publicWorker rightsNot finished searchCase filePartiescancelPrint Searching result 6 records

List of the sessions programmed during one month There is no records because they are handled periodically OuthelpsearchcancelPrint Sessions searching partiesCase number MadabaCase number sessionhearing type judge hearing date from Selection DeterminedCase situation Hearing date to Magistrates Record result0

Procedure of handover of cases from one judge to another in case of transfer of a judge Transfer of cases from one judge to another Current judgeSelection cancel Case numberCase year search Select all cancel all Send to another judge l The case Currently cases The new judge HelpOut

List of the cases registered three years ago and not resolved yet Case searching Parties informationNumber of receiptPolice NumberSupport of case Case numberLegal, Magistrates’ cases Magistrates’ casesSelection Incoming date from:Incoming date to: Case situation Classified Case situation Not finished Date of judgment from Date of judgment to Type of case Judge Case numberBasic numberCase description Case classification Case type Case situation Incoming dateDate- first litigation searchCase fileCase partiescancelprinthelpout Number of receiptConnected casesPolice NumberSupport of case searchCase filePartiescancelprintHelpout

Number of magistrates’ cases (criminal) in September 2014 in Madaba court Print Outhelp The Hashemite Kingdom Ministry of justice Cases left to the next month Resolved cases during this month Incoming cases during this month Registered cases from the last month Magistrates’ court Madaba Number of cases in Madaba Magistrates’ court during September 2014 Total

The planning of Madaba court in September We notice that the number of magistrates’ cases is the same in this slide and the previous slide. The Hashemite Kingdom Ministry of justice Planning of the first instance court of Madaba during September 2014 ProsecutorMagistrates First instance court Penal notifica tion I nvesti gated 31 August Incoming cases Total Resolved cases 30 Sept. Penal Criminal Execution cases Manage ment cases Appeal execution Appeal penal and legal Urgent requests Criminal, Penal Legal cases The Head of Madaba court Notice : there are 5 judges in the First Instance Court and 5 judges in the Magistrates’ Court and one judge in execution Media tion Urgent requests

Propositions from Madaba First Instance Court in reaction to the recommendations in the CEPEJ report “Performance study of the judiciary of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan – First evaluation and recommendations” 1- We suggest the conception of a program that shows the progress of the examination of cases by the judges (workflow). This program can be run through an Intranet site without needing internet. And then, trainings could be organized for the employees and the judges on this program. For information, the Mizan program provides a special application that allows to follow the files, but it is not operational because the cases have to be archived from registration until the delivery of the final judgment.

2- We suggest to draft Guide Booklets outlining the different types of cases, the information/documentation requested in each type, and explaining the procedures, the average time needed for the judgment… to the attention of any interested person. We also suggest the publication of a guide containing information on the court: all the departments, and the role of each department in every type of cases. Copies of this guide should be available at the reception desk of the court. An organizational chart of the court could also be published, mentioning the location of the different offices and sections, to facilitate people's orientation within the court.

3- Since there is a convention between the Ministry of Justice and the Jordanian post office which stipulates that the court can use the Jordanian post office services for the notifications, we suggest to make this service operational in the courts or to create an ARAMEX office in the court for notification. We also suggest to set up an electronic connection between the bailiffs’ section and institutions or organizations that possess clear addresses (water company, electricity company, the department of lands and survey and others) in case the address provided by a person is not clear or doesn’t exist.

4- Concerning the execution of judgments in criminal cases: we suggest the creation of an electronic link between the execution section attached to the prosecutor and the execution of judgments department. Concerning the execution of judgments in legal cases and the financial bonds, and in order to accelerate the execution process, we also suggest the conception of a special system that allows to get information about the sentenced persons’ assets from specialized departments like the department of lands and survey, the department of licenses and the companies control department. 5- We would like to find a way to simplify the procedures of file preparation before the hearings (data submission, lawyers’ documents…), so that only the complete files would be submitted to the judge, which will allow him to begin the proceeding directly.

6- We suggest the conception of a booklet (guide) containing all the information needed for foreign nationals to have access to justice. This guide could be available in English and other languages, in airports, boundary crossing points, courts, police stations and other places. 7- We propose to install a screen in the court that shows the case numbers, the time when hearings take place, judges’ names, parties’ names in each case… That would simplify the orientation of the court users and the lawyers, and save employees’ time. Notice: The most important need of the court is actually an operational archive system because the cases have to be archived from registration until the delivery of the final judgment.