---
category: "PROMIS Scandal"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-01
tags:
  - Person
  - PROMIS
  - INSLAW
summary: "Dean C. Merrill co-founded the Institute for Law and Social Research (ILSR) with Bill Hamilton on October 15, 1973, and served as a Vice President of INSLAW, Inc. through at least April 1982, having also been a member of the original 1969 team that designed the PROMIS software under the direction of Joan E. Jacoby and Charles R. Work."
---
Dean C. Merrill was a member of the original 1969 team assembled by U.S. Attorney [[Thomas A. Flannery]] to design a computer-based case management system for the [[U.S. Attorney's office|DC U.S. Attorney's Office]]. The team was co-directed by [[Joan E. Jacoby]] and [[Charles R. Work]], with [[Bill Hamilton]] serving as project manager at [[Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co]]. The resulting system, deployed January 1, 1971, became the [[PROMIS|Prosecutor's Management Information System (PROMIS)]].[^2]

On October 15, 1973, Merrill co-incorporated the Institute for Law and Social Research (ILSR) with Hamilton at 1125 15th Street, N.W., Suite 6000, Washington, D.C. ILSR was a nonprofit corporation established to serve as the steward of the PROMIS software and to conduct empirical criminal justice research under [[LEAA]] funding.[^2]

When INSLAW, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in January 1981 as the for-profit successor to ILSR, Merrill continued with the new entity as a Vice President. He held that position through at least April 1982, during the period when the company negotiated and executed its March 1982 implementation contract with the [[Department of Justice|DOJ's]] [[Executive Office for United States Attorneys]].[^2]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Cannavale, Frank J. *Witness Cooperation: With a Handbook of Witness Management.* Lexington Books, 1976.
[^2]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair: Investigative Report.* House Report 102-857, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, September 10, 1992.