Maidstone crown court switches to digital system of case recording
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by Keith Hunt
Maidstone Crown Court has today
switched to a new digital system of recording cases, which sees two
full-time stenographers and 20 part-time loggers being replaced by
machines.
The Ministry of Justice system,
known as DART (Digital Audio Recording Technology), is being
introduced at all crown courts across the country. Canterbury Crown
Court will go "live" on March 5.
It means all courtroom
proceedings will be put on digital files instead of being taken
down by stenographers or CAT (Computer Aided Transcription) writers
or put onto tape recorders.
Pat Ross, a stenographer at
Maidstone for 19 years, said: "I believe the quality of transcripts
could suffer under the new system as they will not be able to check
correct spellings of names and authorities quoted, as well as
difficult medical terms."
Pat, employed by London-based
Marten Walsh Cherer, added: "When I started training I learnt
shorthand and reached 200 words a minute. Then they decided they
wanted to go over to CAT and we learnt to use the machine and get
our speed up. Now that has become defunct."
Jean Welfare, a CAT writer at
Maidstone for 16-and-a-half years, said: "I will miss it terribly.
It is a hard job. You have to learn to concentrate.
"We could put a transcription on
computer and email it straight away. They say the new system is
progress, but someone is still going to have to prepare it and type
it like we do now."
Senior Judge Jeremy Carey said:
"The introduction of DART means the end of court shorthand writers
and those who log the court tapes as they record court
proceedings.
"From a personal point this is
very sad because the judges and barristers at Maidstone Crown Court
have received huge support and assistance over very many years from
those highly skilled staff. We will miss them.
"The future is uncertain. I must
not be a Luddite. We must embrace, as best we can, that which is
now being provided and make it work as best we can.
"That is something we have no
choice about - but would that we did not have to say goodbye to our
shorthand writers."
Lawyer Tony Ventham descibed the
loss of the old system as "a tragedy".
Monday, January 30 2012
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