Justice William Waller Speaks to Gulfport Rotary Club

Waller started off by talking about Mississippi electronic courts, an electronic document filing and case management system. Electronic courts are more efficient, while giving the public easier access to court documents, allowing for more transparency. It is also more cost efficient. Waller also spoke about the use of drug courts, which seek to rehabilitate drug-using offenders through treatment and supervision with drug testing and frequent court appearances.

Waller says, "This is saving the D.O.C. measures of probably $2 million a year in incarceration costs. In addition, the people in the program have paid back Harrison County over $30,000 in fines that the county would not have received while they were sitting in jail. So we’ve got people that will graduate from this program and there’s a chance of success will be twice that of someone getting out of jail, so that’s another great program that’s here in Harrison County.”

About 3,500 people are currently enrolled in drug courts.