Supporting Jury Understanding of Expert Evidence in a Virtual Environment

Date

2022

Authors

Reichherzer, C.
Cunningham, A.
Barr, J.
Coleman, T.
McManus, K.
Sheppard, D.
Coussens, S.
Kohler, M.
Billinghurst, M.
Thomas, B.H.

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Type:

Conference paper

Citation

Proceedings - 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, VR 2022, 2022, pp.615-624

Statement of Responsibility

Conference Name

2022 IEEE on Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (12 Mar 2022 - 16 Mar 2022 : Christchurch New Zealand)

Abstract

This work investigates the use of Virtual Reality (VR) to present forensic evidence to the jury in a courtroom trial. The findings of a between-participant user study on comprehension of an expert statement are presented, examining the benefits and issues of using VR compared to traditional courtroom presentation (being still images). Participants listened to a forensic scientist explain bloodstain spatter patterns while viewing a mock crime scene in either VR or as still images in video format. Under these conditions, we compared understanding of the expert domain, mental effort and content recall. We found that VR significantly improves the understanding of spatial information and knowledge acquisition. We also identify different patterns of user behaviour depending on the display method. We conclude with suggestions on how to best adapt evidence presentation to VR.

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Copyright 2022 IEEE Access Condition Notes: Accepted manuscript is available open access

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