#MIAMI DADE CRIMINAL DOCKET MANUAL#

Schwartz says that the clerk's office lately has been quicker with turning around manual requests for court documents, as outcry over the outdated system has been growing. We aren't able to readily view documents such as arrest affidavits online.' 'Miami-Dade has been behind the times technologically, for certain,' says Miami attorney Brett Schwartz of Hager & Schwartz. As it stands, their access to their clients' documents is delayed at a critical juncture at the outset of a criminal case. And it's not just a matter of convenience.Ĭriminal defense attorneys have been struggling with the outdated system for years. This a hurdle for members of the general public and legal professionals alike. If you want a Miami-Dade criminal or traffic record, you have to either go to a court office in-person and view the file the old-fashioned way, or make a formal public records request outlining the case numbers and items needed from the docket, which can be a difficult process depending on the volume of records sought. The Miami-Dade circuit court serves the county's more than 2.6 million residents and is one of the largest trial courts in the country. (Miami-Dade does have online access in the civil division, where lawsuits are filed.) New Times checked Florida's ten most populated counties, and Miami-Dade is the only one without online access to these types of cases. It's a quick, straightforward process - unless you're dealing with a case filed in Miami-Dade, which happens to have the largest county court system in Florida.ĭespite advancing technology and the near-ubiquitous digitization of court records statewide, the clerk's office for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade does not yet have a system in place for quickly accessing digital criminal and traffic records. Need to look at a traffic court paper or pull up a criminal case document?Īcross Florida, it's usually an easy task with the advent of electronic case management: Cue up a county clerk's website, and you can view the documents you need with the snap of a finger.

Miami dade criminal docket