London cops extend virtual justice trial

A pilot of virtual courts which use video conferencing technology to put suspects on trial without leaving the police stations is being extended. Fifteen London police stations will now be linked to Camberwell Green Magistrates Court by secure video communication and a secure document transfer system. The original trial ran …

[Anonymous Coward]

Removes

Removes some of the human element though doesn't it? It's mighty easy to call someone a c--- over a video link, you're just talking to some joker on a screen, sounds like it's making the our "justice" system even more like a conveyor belt operated by fascists (police) and robots (magistrates and lawyers sat infront of the TV dishing out text book sentances at lightning speed.)

oh well, I suppose I'm just old fashioned, how long until we all have autofine machines strapped to our heads?

[Throatwobbler Mangrove]

OK but

I've seen this same (type of) technology in action in Sydney. It works pretty well - the picture and sound can be good. My concern is that it makes it even less likely that defendant and solicitor will not have been able to discuss the case at all before being heard by the judge.

Same-day sentencing would require a guilty plea without a real opportunity for the defendant to think it through, and I am not sure that that's a great idea. It might be better to stick to immediate post-charge hearings for bail etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

So you get pulled off the street by the police

and beaten like an egg- and if anyone can show video evidence of this it gets disallowed and they get the same treatment.

Then you get stuck in a cell for a month without even being charged with anything

Then put through a trial in front of no witnesses where key evidence can be blocked out or packets lost during the recording process, found guilty, parcelled up and locked away for the rest of your life.

Next developments:

The Honourable Judge ELIZA (computers never lie, it's just a talking computer- why shouldn't it work?),

Automated prisons and inter-prison transport

The walling off of the country and the gating of the tunnel.

You know what makes me really happy? The knowledge that I have to be, or I'm a terrorist sympathiser.

[Daniel Wilkie]

I'm not sure

There's quite a lot of paperwork involved in a criminal case from all sides, from the police, the defendants, the CPS etc. So bearing in mind that the coppers are spending time out in cars donig proper police work, how are they going to have time to do all the paperwork for the 10+ people a day all the ones I know arrest, and then get that sent to the courts in time for them to pass a verdict within a day or two?

It's a nice idea, but I really can't see it working.

[Adam]

I'm with Daniel

It isn't the physical court that's the problem. The problem is with the number of agencies that don't talk to each other. Take a simple ABH, witnessed by a constable and captured on CCTV:

PC makes statement in notebook. Witness makes complaint. PC visits witness to take statement. PC visits CCTV. CCTV operator makes statement. PC takes CCTV into evidence. Evidence receipt written. Evidence statement written. Evident transferred to property store. Receipt written. Transfer statement written. Suspect arrested. Arrest statement written. Use of force form written. Meeting with CPS sought. CPS can't make it until tomorrow. CPS arrive late for meeting. CPS re-write, by hand, all the above statements into file. CCTV passed to CPS. Receipt written. CPS statement written. Suspect charged.

That's before you've even started to book witness availability, court time, judge availability and had everyone turn up at court but be turned away because the Court Service have rearranged without telling anyone.

[David Ramsay]

Judge ...

... Dread here we come.

Lets just get rid of the police and send Judges out to deploy instant justice!

[raving angry loony]

virtual stitch-up

So you can get stitched up and jailed in under 8 hours, without recourse to a solicitor that is actually informed about the case or has had time to question necessary evidence. Sweet system. That'll definitely make a case for privately-owned prisons as they have in the US. Quite a profitable business apparently, especially since you get to work the slaves hard during their incarceration.

[Ascylto]

What trial?

In practically every known case of miscarriage of justice is a problem with disclosure. Typically, the prosecutors fail to disclose vital evidence (of innocence) to the defence.

This is going to make matters worse ... but. lo, it makes more money for the lawyers!

Now there's a surprise!

[Anonymous Coward]

Been there, done that

We (unnamed govt department) tried video conferencing interviews to save a 250 mile drive for one interviewee for an IT job. I had a telephone conversation later with the person. We both thought that the process was reasonable but not as good as a face to face interview.

Specialist doctors are using this technology to talk to patients, always with the patient's doctor present. The doctors report good results.

As long as the accused has a lawyer physically present I see no objections to using this technology. It saves a fortune on secure transport and court security.