RCP CALCRIM

The RCP CALCRIM free demonstration is now over. Such instructions need to be updated from time to time and
I don't want to spend the time on that unless the system is going to be used as a standard tool in our court
system. I would note the updating of the instructions to conform to modified wording produced by the Judicial
Council is a task that could be easily handled by clerical personnel who are given minimal training in how to
accomplish that task. The updated master instructions portion of the system could be made available FREE to
lawyers, judges, and litigants as part of a comprehensive justice data management system run by and for the
superior courts.

The RCP CALCRIM system is an example of an easy to use tool that judges and lawyers can use to create a set
of jury instructions for a California Superior Court criminal trial. These electronic instructions can easily be
exchanged by the parties in proposed form via Internet or Intranet. They could be made part of a totally
electronic trial record which could then be sent electronically to appellate courts. They are easily modified.
There is no longer any need for judges or clerks to struggle with blacking out inapplicable portions of
instructions with a black marker pen. And the instructions can be proposed to the court and other parties by
each lawyer in advance of any chambers discussion of which instructions to give, thus saving time. The clerk
can quickly print out a full set of instructions for the jury or they could even be provided to the jury electronically if
the jury deliberation room is equipped with a PC and a large wall-mounted monitor. Clerks wasting time and
expense photocopying instructions that have portions blacked out can be history. The instructions could be
scrolled down the screen of a large wall-mounted monitor in the courtroom as the judge reads the instructions.
The continued waste of money on paper is now just plain absurd.

To learn about the features of the RCP CALCRIM system, please read the User's Manual. You will need
Microsoft Word to use these instructions.

RCP CALCRIM is an example of a system or sub-system comprised of a set of files designed to work together
in harmony. This type of system is known as modular interlocking software. The judge gets the Judge's
Template into which the desired instructions are placed. The prosecutor gets the People's Template to use to
propose instructions to the court and the defense attorney(s) get(s) the Defendant's Template to use for their
proposals to the court.

These templates were originally created for Judge W. Kent Hamlin at the Fresno County Superior Court
because I saw in an appellate record that he was having trouble creating a set of CALCRIM instructions from the
tools given to him. If you wish to use this construction system in another county, you can simply customize the
templates by changing the information in the name and address blocks and then save the modified files to your
hard drive.

These templates work with Microsoft Word.

The master instructions sample file is no longer available here but if you can talk your legislators, court
administrators, etc. into coming to their senses about the use of modern computer technology, these master
instructions, which are in a form that allows them to be part of a modular interlocking system, could be made
available FREE to everyone. There is no logical reason why that could not be done.

Component sub-systems like this should be part of an overall justice data management system that could be
created quickly and should cost no more than about $6,000 per judge. Economies of scale allow this, with
smaller counties having a higher average cost per judge and larger counties having a lower average cost per
judge.   

The demonstration example was just that - a demonstration. If you want this tool updated and used in our courts,
then please contact your elected politicians.