Courts Looking At Virtual Reality To Recreate Crime Scenes

Virtual reality can be used to help people experience all kinds of things, from enjoying the thrill of adventures in space to letting an elderly relative view the coast one more time. The university of Staffordshire looks to use the evolving area of virtual reality to help police gain convictions by recreating crime scenes.

The experiment looks to help jurors see crime scenes in a whole new light by putting them at the scene of the crime instead of viewing it through the eyes of a camera or video on a TV screen. The experiment is being conducted in connection with Staffordshire Police and has so far been funded by a research grant of £140,000. Lead by Dr Caroline Sturdy Colls who stated that “what we want to do is to come up with the best solution that helps the criminal justice system”.

In order to map the crime scenes, the project is looking to use everything from drones to laser scanning to help accurately recreate crime scenes in a 3D space. The headset alone costs £700, a price that Staffordshire police deem “affordable”.

While many judges and courts may find it difficult to adopt the new technology, there will be a few who are interested and look to use the new technology as soon as possible with the Ministry of Justice hoping that the new technology will “remove unnecessary hearings, cut costs for litigants and make justice more accessible”.