Symptoms of remote hearings - A psycho-legal study on remote hearings of defendants and its effect on conviction rates
(2021) JURM02 20212Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Through the reform en modernare rättegång [a more modern trial] the possibility for parties to attend court hearings via video and/or audio was made permanent. The use of such solutions has increased over the last years and was accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic.
In experimental settings it has repeatedly been observed that witnesses’ and complainants’ testimonies are perceived as less credible when presented to observers via video and/or audio than when presented in physical presence of the observer. This is known as the presentation mode effect. This study takes two steps forward by examining the presentation mode effect for defendants’ testimonies in real court cases from Swedish district courts. Based on previous research and the... (More) - Through the reform en modernare rättegång [a more modern trial] the possibility for parties to attend court hearings via video and/or audio was made permanent. The use of such solutions has increased over the last years and was accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic.
In experimental settings it has repeatedly been observed that witnesses’ and complainants’ testimonies are perceived as less credible when presented to observers via video and/or audio than when presented in physical presence of the observer. This is known as the presentation mode effect. This study takes two steps forward by examining the presentation mode effect for defendants’ testimonies in real court cases from Swedish district courts. Based on previous research and the theories which have been presented as explanations to previously found results, it was predicted that the presentation mode effect would occur with regards to defendants’ testimonies in real court cases.
Because of practical limitations of the total number of examinable cases a method was designed to maximize the statistical power, at the expense of not being able to make conclusions about general conviction rates. 430 cases where the defendant was found guilty and 341 cases where the defendant was found not guilty was examined. All cases were about minor drug offence, use or possession for own use. The samples were selected based on several criteria such as that the defendant was heard at a main hearing and that the defendant had pleaded not guilty.
No significant difference in occurrence of remote hearings was found between the samples of guilty- and not guilty-cases - not for video attendance vs physical attendance, audio attendance vs physical attendance, or both video attendance and audio attendance vs physical attendance – offering no support to the theory that the presentation mode effect generalizes to defendants and the outcome of real court cases. This despite that some other circumstances were identified as possible independent causes of an overrepresentation of remote hearings among guilty-cases. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Genom reformen en modernare rättegång gjordes möjligheten för parter att närvara vid domstolssammanträden via ljud- och/eller bildöverföring permanent. Användningen av sådana lösningar har ökat under de senaste åren och accelererades av covid-19-pandemin.
I experimentell miljö har det återkommande observerats att vittnens och målsägandes utsagor uppfattas som mindre tillförlitliga om de presenteras via bild- och/eller ljudöverföring än om de presenteras i fysisk närvaro av iakttagarna. Detta kallas the presentation mode effect. Den här studien tar två steg framåt genom att undersöka den effekten för tilltalade i riktiga rättsfall från svenska tingsrätter. Baserat på tidigare forskningsresultat och de teorier som lagts fram som... (More) - Genom reformen en modernare rättegång gjordes möjligheten för parter att närvara vid domstolssammanträden via ljud- och/eller bildöverföring permanent. Användningen av sådana lösningar har ökat under de senaste åren och accelererades av covid-19-pandemin.
I experimentell miljö har det återkommande observerats att vittnens och målsägandes utsagor uppfattas som mindre tillförlitliga om de presenteras via bild- och/eller ljudöverföring än om de presenteras i fysisk närvaro av iakttagarna. Detta kallas the presentation mode effect. Den här studien tar två steg framåt genom att undersöka den effekten för tilltalade i riktiga rättsfall från svenska tingsrätter. Baserat på tidigare forskningsresultat och de teorier som lagts fram som förklaringar till dessa förutsågs att effekten skulle visa sig i förhållande till tilltalade och riktiga rättsfall.
På grund av praktiska begränsningar av det totala antalet möjliga rättsfall som kunde undersökas utformades en metod för att maximera den statistiska kraften, på bekostnad av att det inte skulle kunna gå att dra några slutsatser om den allmänna fällande-frekvensen. 430 fall där den tilltalade fälldes och 341 fall där den tilltalade friades undersöktes. Alla fall rörde ringa narkotikabrott, bruk eller innehav för eget bruk. Urvalet gjordes efter ett flertal kriterier så som att tilltalad hördes vid en huvudförhandling och att tilltalad förnekade brott.
Ingen signifikant skillnad i förekomst av icke-fysisk närvaro mellan fällande och friande domar hittades – varken för videonärvaro i förhållande till fysisk närvaro, närvaro genom ljudöverföring i förhållande till fysisk närvaro eller närvaro över ljud- och/eller bildnärvaro i förhållande till fysisk närvaro; inget stöd för teorin att den i experiment identifierade effekten kan generaliseras till tilltalade och utgången i riktiga rättsfall hittades. Detta till trots att vissa andra omständigheter som självständigt skulle kunna orsaka en överrepresentation av närvaro genom bild- och/eller ljudöverföring bland de fällande domarna identifierades. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9070593
- author
- Vetterfalk Strömblad, Daniel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20212
- year
- 2021
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- criminal law, evidence law, remote hearings, credibility, presentation mode effect, PME, video conference, effects of video conference in court, videonärvaro, telefonnärvaro, närvaro över video, närvaro över telefon, närvarosätt
- language
- English
- id
- 9070593
- date added to LUP
- 2022-02-10 10:53:04
- date last changed
- 2022-02-10 10:53:04
@misc{9070593,
abstract = {{Through the reform en modernare rättegång [a more modern trial] the possibility for parties to attend court hearings via video and/or audio was made permanent. The use of such solutions has increased over the last years and was accelerated by the covid-19 pandemic.
In experimental settings it has repeatedly been observed that witnesses’ and complainants’ testimonies are perceived as less credible when presented to observers via video and/or audio than when presented in physical presence of the observer. This is known as the presentation mode effect. This study takes two steps forward by examining the presentation mode effect for defendants’ testimonies in real court cases from Swedish district courts. Based on previous research and the theories which have been presented as explanations to previously found results, it was predicted that the presentation mode effect would occur with regards to defendants’ testimonies in real court cases.
Because of practical limitations of the total number of examinable cases a method was designed to maximize the statistical power, at the expense of not being able to make conclusions about general conviction rates. 430 cases where the defendant was found guilty and 341 cases where the defendant was found not guilty was examined. All cases were about minor drug offence, use or possession for own use. The samples were selected based on several criteria such as that the defendant was heard at a main hearing and that the defendant had pleaded not guilty.
No significant difference in occurrence of remote hearings was found between the samples of guilty- and not guilty-cases - not for video attendance vs physical attendance, audio attendance vs physical attendance, or both video attendance and audio attendance vs physical attendance – offering no support to the theory that the presentation mode effect generalizes to defendants and the outcome of real court cases. This despite that some other circumstances were identified as possible independent causes of an overrepresentation of remote hearings among guilty-cases.}},
author = {{Vetterfalk Strömblad, Daniel}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Symptoms of remote hearings - A psycho-legal study on remote hearings of defendants and its effect on conviction rates}},
year = {{2021}},
}