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More on whether and how criminal justice records should be on-line

By Douglas A. Berman

In this recent post, I wondered aloud "Should all federal plea agreements be generally available on-line?".  A helpful reader pointed me to this forthcoming article by Caren Myers Morrison, titled "Privacy, Accountability, and the Cooperating Defendant: Towards a New Role for Internet Access to Court Records," which addresses related issues.  Here is the abstract: Now that federal court records are available online, anyone can obtain criminal case files instantly over the Internet.  But this unfettered flow of information is in fundamental tension with many goals of the criminal justice system, including the integrity of criminal investigations, the accountability of prosecutors and the security of witnesses.  It has also altered the behavior of prosecutors intent on protecting the identity of cooperating defendants who assist them in investigating other targets...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).