Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information
With the rapid flip to virtual courts in 2020, justice contexts changed dramatically. Suddenly, the courtroom looked very different: Courtroom architecture was replaced with personal devices and people were constrained to presenting themselves through modalities such as video and audio. Remote commu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ubiquity Press
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Tilburg Law Review |
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| Online Access: | https://account.tilburglawreview.com/index.php/up-j-tlr/article/view/388 |
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| author | Bethany Muir Eryn Newman Meredith Rossner |
| author_facet | Bethany Muir Eryn Newman Meredith Rossner |
| author_sort | Bethany Muir |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | With the rapid flip to virtual courts in 2020, justice contexts changed dramatically. Suddenly, the courtroom looked very different: Courtroom architecture was replaced with personal devices and people were constrained to presenting themselves through modalities such as video and audio. Remote communications also introduced other extralegal factors, including background cues indicating the location from which the attendee is joining, which has raised concerns regarding the potential for such cues to jeopardize the fairness of a trial. In this paper we present a series of experiments to test the impact of presentation modality and visual background cues. Across two experiments (total N = 608), we varied whether defendants appeared in front of custodial, home, or neutral contextual backgrounds. We also varied whether defendants appeared via video or a static image. We asked participants to rate perceived guilt and trustworthiness (or dangerousness in Experiment 2) of the defendant. We found that custodial backgrounds led to less favorable evaluations than home and neutral contextual backgrounds. Further, if defendants appeared with a static image, they were evaluated less favorably than if they appeared via video. This research provides insights into how access to contextual backgrounds and dynamic social cues may influence impressions in virtual justice contexts and raises questions about equity, policy, and procedure. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2c4b3eda0ba844b7905efed205d52736 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2211-2545 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Tilburg Law Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-2c4b3eda0ba844b7905efed205d527362024-12-20T07:35:58ZengUbiquity PressTilburg Law Review2211-25452024-11-01292105–124105–12410.5334/tilr.388388Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual InformationBethany Muir0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1981-6945Eryn Newman1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8663-7173Meredith Rossner2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4744-8502The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital TerritoryThe Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital TerritoryThe Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital TerritoryWith the rapid flip to virtual courts in 2020, justice contexts changed dramatically. Suddenly, the courtroom looked very different: Courtroom architecture was replaced with personal devices and people were constrained to presenting themselves through modalities such as video and audio. Remote communications also introduced other extralegal factors, including background cues indicating the location from which the attendee is joining, which has raised concerns regarding the potential for such cues to jeopardize the fairness of a trial. In this paper we present a series of experiments to test the impact of presentation modality and visual background cues. Across two experiments (total N = 608), we varied whether defendants appeared in front of custodial, home, or neutral contextual backgrounds. We also varied whether defendants appeared via video or a static image. We asked participants to rate perceived guilt and trustworthiness (or dangerousness in Experiment 2) of the defendant. We found that custodial backgrounds led to less favorable evaluations than home and neutral contextual backgrounds. Further, if defendants appeared with a static image, they were evaluated less favorably than if they appeared via video. This research provides insights into how access to contextual backgrounds and dynamic social cues may influence impressions in virtual justice contexts and raises questions about equity, policy, and procedure.https://account.tilburglawreview.com/index.php/up-j-tlr/article/view/388remote courtsvideo backgroundsjuror decisionscognitive biasdefendant impressions |
| spellingShingle | Bethany Muir Eryn Newman Meredith Rossner Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information Tilburg Law Review remote courts video backgrounds juror decisions cognitive bias defendant impressions |
| title | Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information |
| title_full | Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information |
| title_fullStr | Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information |
| title_short | Evaluations of Virtual Defendants With Depleted or Rich Contextual Information |
| title_sort | evaluations of virtual defendants with depleted or rich contextual information |
| topic | remote courts video backgrounds juror decisions cognitive bias defendant impressions |
| url | https://account.tilburglawreview.com/index.php/up-j-tlr/article/view/388 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bethanymuir evaluationsofvirtualdefendantswithdepletedorrichcontextualinformation AT erynnewman evaluationsofvirtualdefendantswithdepletedorrichcontextualinformation AT meredithrossner evaluationsofvirtualdefendantswithdepletedorrichcontextualinformation |