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California Courts' Software Causing Wrongful Arrests and Extended Custody

posted by n1 on Thursday December 01 2016, @11:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the computer-says-you're-guilty dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes:

People's jobs and freedom are being jeopardized by the roll-out of new software by California's courts.

[..] Odyssey, the new system being rolled out across much of California to deal with case file management.

So far, the problems have seen people wrongfully arrested, held in prison longer than required and in several cases mistakenly told they must register as sex offenders.

The software, created by Texas-based Tyler Technologies, costs about $5m and is set to gradually replace a decades-old e-filing system that looks like something a hacker would use in a Hollywood movie.

[...] Minor driving offences were incorrectly appearing as serious felonies,  meaning if an affected person applied for a job, they are likely to be flagged as having a serious criminal record.

[...] Tyler Technologies provided a statement to the BBC in which it defended its software, and shifted blame back to Alameda County's staff.

It said many factors could impact the software's usefulness, among them training of those who use the technology.

"We are confident that we have the experience to help our client navigate those inevitable headwinds, just as we have done many times before with other complex implementations," spokesman Tony Katsulos said.

Source: BBC News

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @02:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @02:01PM (#435422)

    I realize that I'm a dinosaur but back in the day replacing mission critical legacy systems included running parallel for at least one quarter (as long as it wasn't the 4th quarter) and sometimes up to a year. Sure it cost more, but getting things right isn't cheap or easy.

    This is one of the things I like better about working in the petrochem industry now rather than when I used to work in IT. Things change a lot slower, sometimes a bit too slow, but slow enough that the new tech is thoroughly tested and vetted before it gets used on anything important.