Digital Evidence Readiness for Prosecutor Offices

Executive Summary 

Digital evidence has become the cornerstone of modern prosecutions, playing a pivotal role in charging decisions, plea negotiations, and courtroom outcomes. Yet many prosecutor offices still rely on outdated systems and fragmented workflows that slow down justice, risk non-compliance, and compromise the integrity of critical evidence.  

This checklist is a practical tool for prosecutor offices to assess their digital evidence readiness, identify gaps, and adopt processes that improve intake, analysis, and collaboration across agencies. When used consistently, it supports faster case preparation, ensures legal defensibility, and reduces administrative burden across the evidence lifecycle.  

By checking off each item, this checklist helps prosecutor offices strengthen their digital evidence operations to meet today’s demands by addressing the following points:  

• What foundational policies, roles, and training are needed to support secure and compliant digital evidence handling.  
• How to streamline evidence ingestion from law enforcement and preserve metadata for admissibility.  
• What AI-powered tools can accelerate review, automate transcription, redaction, tagging, and improve courtroom preparation.  
• What steps ensure chain of custody, prevent tampering, and support regulatory compliance.