Trials in transition: An explorative study of videolinks in courts

Research problem and specific questionsWe are at the precipice of change in how people typically participate in legal trials with the number of videolinks increasing at astounding rates in Sweden, a trend reflected across the globe.

However, whilst we currently know a great deal about how videolinks impact on our perceptions, we do not know how videolinks are experienced or accomplished.

As videolinks are rapidly becoming an ingrained work practice at Swedish courts, this has important implications not only for everyday work life for legal professionals but for the experience of justice more broadly.

The purpose of this study is s therefore to investigate how this form of digitalisation impacts workplace interactions and dynamics and how this impacts on experiences and perceptions of justice.

The following questions will be addressed:Q1: How do videolinks impact the experience of participating in a trial?Q2: How is digital participation by videolink accomplished?Q3: How is the ceremonial setting of a trial conveyed in videolinks?Q4: How can a sense of copresence be constructed and maintained in videolinked trials?Data and methodEthnographic observations of ten criminal trials and ten civil trials using videolinks will be conducted along with qualitative interviews with legal professionals and lay participants of trials with videolinks.

The data will then be analysed using NVivo.Societal relevance and utilisationEnsuring that videolinks are used in an efficient yet just way is a central for enabling their continued usage not only in the legal context, but in other areas of working and everyday life.

The findings of this study will be used to create guidelines and codes of practice to ensure this along with policy suggestions regarding the appropriate usage in courts.Plan for project realisationThe project will be conducted over three years beginning with ethical review, literature overview and data collection in the first year before continuing data collection, coding and analysis in the second year and finally authoring articles in the second and final years along with presenting the findings in scientific settings and in wider society.