being at the scene of the crime , the room for error is large .
www . AmericanSecurityToday . com August 2021 - Edition 57
However , thanks to the development of virtual reality ( VR ), jurors now have a better chance of making the correct decision .
A new study published by the University of South Australia ( UniSA ), provides overwhelming evidence in favor of allowing the use of VR in the courtroom , effectively dropping jurors right in the middle of a car accident or murder scene .
A team of UniSA researchers , legal professionals , police and forensic scientists simulated a hit-and-run scene , reconstructing the events with a laser scanner to compare verdicts between ‘ jurors ’ using 3D headsets and those relying on photographs alone from the scene .
The result indicated jurors have better recall , spatial accuracy and more consistent verdicts in the case of the jurors ( involving 30 study participants ), using interactive technology .
“ Virtual reality also required significantly less effort than using photographs to piece together the sequence of events ,” explains Dr . Andrew Cunning- ham , from UniSA ' s Australian Research Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environ- ments .
Study participants viewing the scene through a 3D headset were 9.5 times more likely ( 86.67 per cent ) to choose the same verdict – Death by Dangerous Driving – than the group who relied solely on photo-
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