Remote at Court Challenges and Solutions of Video Conferencing in the Judicial System

This article targets one of the fundamental changes in the judicial system induced by the severe limitations due to the absence of face-to-face meetings: the application of video conferencing in court sessions, an application with special requirements in this critical domain. A semi-structured literature review that we conducted revealed a lack of human-centered approaches. Potentials and challenges, mainly focused on the needs of judges, were also identified. These challenges were then transformed into requirements for designs of video conferencing systems in the judicial context. We ultimately developed a low-fidelity prototype of a system that incorporates a novel combination of three use-case-specific features: a solution to manage fatigue, a solution to manage user participation, and cognitive aid based on artificial intelligence (AI). The aim of the last feature was to reduce cognitive load while improving the moderation quality of court session leaders. Through a heuristic evaluation by human-computer interaction (HCI) and domain experts, the benefits of the basic design ideas, as well as potential areas for improvement, were identified. This paper presents the first systematic analyses of the potentials and limitations of video conferencing in German court sessions. It brings the enormous challenges of a critical domain in society, as well as human-centered and value-sensitive digitalization and AI adoption, under the spotlight.