Research examines the impact of new technology used in video court hearings
The Video Enabled Justice (VEJ) Independent Evaluation was led by academics from the University of Surrey's Department of Sociology and the Centre for Translation Studies in the School of Literature and Languages. Sponsored by the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, the report investigated the impact of a new booking tool used in the organisation of first appearance remand hearings in video court. Drawing on data from observation of over 600 video-enabled and traditional in-person hearings in magistrates' courts, and semi-structured telephone interviews with court users and stakeholders, the study provides new insights into the performance of the booking software used in the court listing process, as well as other pertinent features of video courts when compared to traditional in-person courts.