With support from the State Justice Institute, the Justice Management Institute (JMI) and Kalamuna are expanding the online case resolution (OCR) initiative to traffic and misdemeanor courts across the United States. OCR is a software platform that enables courts and justice system stakeholders and defendants to conduct traffic and misdemeanor cases online using a free, open-source GNU General Public License (GPL)[1]. OCR provides defendants with online tools to manage court transactions, court hearings, and plea negotiation; as well as to appear virtually at hearings authorized by the court. OCR also provides a module to their defense attorney to manage their cases, including their clients’ transactions; and the prosecutor to manage their cases and to negotiate pleas.
Two SJI grants (2025 and 2026) have funded the formation of an OCR National Working Group (NWG) that has expanded to 69 members; ten states; and five pilot courts. The first pilot court is the Municipal and Traffic Court of New Orleans, where the pilot software, with funding from the City of New Orleans, will be rolled out in September 2026. The 2026 SJI initiative includes a technology assessment of supporting technologies at the ten NWG states; planning for expansion of OCR to Louisiana courts statewide; and design of specifications for the OCR open-source repository to access the public software under a GPL V3.0 license.
“OCR will be an enhancement to my court. As a Public Defender for 23 years and a Judge since 2009 in Municipal and Traffic Court, I have witnessed the frustration the public has experienced with what should have been an easy experience in resolving a routine traffic ticket. Repeated returns to court to address a moving violation, sometimes 4 or 5 appearances, is unsettling.
-Judge Mark J. Shea, The New Orleans Municipal and Traffic Court
The ability to resolve a violation through the OCR system will accomplish many things; eliminate unnecessary visits to court, reduce failure to appears, increase access to justice and reduce inefficiencies. OCR is the future of my court.”
[1] GNU GPL is an open-source license that does not permit commercialization but allows users to embed or link the code in or to other systems. See https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html.
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