The idea of a judge presiding over a courtroom dates back to the 12th century. The one constant about any court system throughout history has been necessary presence. A court case cannot happen without the litigants in attendance. Yet, in the 21st Century, we have a very unique opportunity to make physical presence optional. Defendants, Jurors and Judges alike could all be attending court from home. Their presence will not be in the physical world, but a virtual one.
The first recorded use of virtual reality, often styled as VR, in a courtroom dates back to 1992. Bloomberg Law states that jurors, equipped with virtual reality headsets, viewed a recreation of the accident scene. They were able to watch the accident unfold in front of their eyes from a witness's perspective. This proved to be a landmark case for the American Justice System. Being able to see the accident unfold is more impactful than a witness retelling which often contains inconsistencies. This is especially true if it is in the perspective of the victim.
In theory, this sounds like a no-brainer but it is not without concerns. For example, what if the recreation contained inaccuracies? The chances of that affecting the verdict would be very high and would be detrimental to justice. In order for this to work, there would have to be a lot of testing and regulations put into place. These would determine which cases would qualify for use of VR evidence as well as ways to vet the accuracy of the recreations.
In 2021, congress passed sweeping disaster recovery legislation. From top to bottom, government agencies had to start concentrating efforts on disaster recovery. This included finding off site backups for data as well as for critical software programs. Another aspect was where to hear court cases if the courthouse became unusable. The previous courthouse that I worked for selected a local school to be the backup courthouse. If this did happen, it would greatly disrupt the lives of all the kids going to that school and seems unsafe.
Why not direct those resources to recreating the courthouse in virtual reality? In the case of a disaster, all litigants can don a virtual reality headset and make their way to the virtual courtroom. In virtual reality, the court can run the same as it does in reality. You will be able to see the participants and hear the case as normal. This would allow the court to proceed as normal. Even if litigants are at home, incarcerated or on vacation, they can still meet up virtually.
This may seem far fetched but Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is currently making it a reality. They are working on a program that they call the Metaverse. The goal? Creating an entire virtual copy of our physical world and having it run in parallel to our own. Anywhere you can go in reality, you can go in the Metaverse. The Meta CEO expects the Metaverse to be completed in the next five to ten years. This leaves plenty of time for courthouses to work with them to integrate the court system.
I don't know about you guys but my first impressions of the Metaverse was, 'Why?' Why would we need a digital world when we have a perfectly good real one? But the more I have thought about it and done research, there are many applicable uses for it. The potential to increase the effectiveness of the Judicial System is there, we just need to accept it.
Interested in learning more about this topic? Click here for a great article from someone who actually participated in a virtual reality courtroom.