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Indiana

Overview

  • The Indiana Judiciary is primarily a locally funded court system.  The state pays the salaries of judges, prosecutors, and magistrates and a portion of the salary of the juvenile magistrates.  The state administers funding for partial reimbursement to counties for eligible public defender expenses.  The State also pays for travel expenses and for other special projects, such as Civil Legal Aid, GAL/CASA and drug courts.
  • The Judiciary’s state appropriation decreased from $138.45 million in FY11 to $137.81 million in FY12.  The courts have been able to maintain the same number of judges but have had to decrease the number of staff persons and the amount spent on operating expense.  They have had to lay off staff in their technology section.  Salaries for Supreme Court staff have been frozen since 2008.
  • Technology initiatives include e-filing, an electronic document management system, e-citations, e-payment of fees and fines, and videoconferencing of hearings.  These technologies have been introduced on a court by court basis. Funding for implementation of a state wide case management system was reduced, thereby substantially slowing the phase in of this system.  The trial courts, with the exception of judge and certain prosecutor salaries are funded locally. The Supreme Court's case management initiative has attempted to make court information easier to manage and more accessible to the public.
  • The trial courts in Indiana are not part of a unified court system. The trial courts are managed locally. The Supreme Court's Strategic Planning Committee is developing strategies that will lead to a proposal to create a unified court system.

Reports and Articles

Gavel to Gavel

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