Prosecutor's Management Information System

The Prosecutor's Management Information System (Promis) is a database system developed by Inslaw Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based, information technology company.

Promis was first developed by Inslaw during the 1970s under contracts and grants from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA). These guarantees gave the government licenses to use the early versions of Promis but not to modify them, or to create derivative works, or to distribute Promis outside the federal government. By 1982, because of strong disagreements over a fee-incentive, Modification 12 Agreement to the original contract, the United States Department of Justice and Inslaw Inc. became involved in a widely-publicized and protracted lawsuit (see: Inslaw Inc. v. United States Government); however, what follows is intended to be an article on What Promis Is and How Promis works.