The elusive role of physicality in virtual trials: Towards a new understanding of legal participation

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Video links are widely used in courtrooms across the globe but there is a mounting apprehension that the legitimacy and fairness of trials are threatened by the diminishment of physical interactions this format entails. The problem addressed in VIRTUTRIALS is that current concerns regarding the threat video links pose to trials by diminishing physical interaction may not be substantiated by contemporary examination. Instead, these concerns may originate from a fetishization of physicality, despite physicality remaining an enigma. Given the centrality and importance of trials in democratic societies, this has important implications for legal security and the continued trust in the legal system. It is especially critical considering the impending shift to virtual reality trials devoid of physical presence. VIRTUTRIALS will identify how physicality and the absence thereof shapes contemporary trials and participation within in order to show if and how trials can retain their legitimacy and fairness in virtual settings. The state-of-the-art pinpoints three interlinked themes regarding physicality which inspire the research questions: RQ1: How does participation format shape participants’ accomplishment and experience? RQ2: What are the social ingredients of virtual justice rituals? RQ3: How are displays of credibility and remorse understood and evaluated in physical versus virtual trials? VIRTUTRIALS has an innovative abductive and interconnected design using a multi-methods approach, including ethnography, qualitative interviews, and a combined qualitative and quantitative analysis of written judgements. By uniquely drawing on a social scientific perspective with interactionist theory, it aims to analyse and challenge the current understanding of trials as face-to-face interactions. In today’s rapidly digitalising world, where interactions in virtual settings are progressively prevalent and intricate, VIRTUTRIALS contributes vital knowledge on virtual interactions.