Audit of the New Bedford District Court (April 18, 2024)

This is a state performance audit of certain New Bedford District Court activities from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the New Bedford District Court (NBDC) for the period July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.”

Auditors checked whether closed criminal case information was available online to the public when allowed, and whether a clerk attended every criminal court session.

“The purpose of this audit was to determine whether NBDC has closed criminal case information in an electronic format that was remotely accessible to the public, unless otherwise restricted, as required by Rule 5(a)(2) of Massachusetts Trial Court Rule XIV: Uniform Rules on Public Access to Court Records.”

Remote access matters because without it, people may have to go to the courthouse in person to get information, and not everyone can do that.

“If the Massachusetts Trial Court does not ensure that criminal case information is remotely accessible to the public, then individuals cannot access this information without physically visiting the courthouse, which may not be possible for all individuals.”

If you need information about a closed criminal case, the report says some required details may not be available online and may require an in-person courthouse visit unless the system is fixed.

“Specifically, the closed criminal cases in the public portal in MassCourts did not include docket information and calendar information.”

New Bedford District Court passed the audit tests, but the statewide Trial Court system did not make all required public information available remotely.

“We found that the New Bedford District Court (NBDC) entered all of this required information into MassCourts; however, this required information was not available remotely to the public through this portal.”

The Auditor says New Bedford District Court should check back with the Massachusetts Trial Court so the required criminal case information becomes available remotely to the public.

“NBDC should follow up with the Massachusetts Trial Court to ensure that all of the required information for criminal cases in its court is available remotely to the public.”

The audit did not produce formal findings against New Bedford District Court, but it flagged a public-access problem involving the Massachusetts Trial Court.

“However, we did identify an issue we believe warrants attention, which we outlined in the Other Matters section of this report.”

MassCourts is the court system’s central electronic case system, and a docket is the official list of case details and events kept by the clerk.

“MassCourts is the central case management system used by all Massachusetts Trial Court departments.”