Video Enabled Justice Independent Evaluation
Start date
February 2018End date
March 2020Summary
The University of Surrey was commissioned by the Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner to undertake an independent evaluation of the Video Enabled Justice (VEJ) programme. The VEJ programme involved the pilot implementation of new digital and video technology in magistrates’ courts and police custody suites including: a new digital booking tool designed to identify and reduce time gaps between cases; and the installation of new video technology in police custody suites.
The evaluation documented the conduct of first appearances, breach of bail and arrest warrant hearings both before and after the implementation of new digital and video equipment. The hearings involved defendants detained in police custody, appearing either via a video link from custody suites, or in person at magistrates’ courts. Comparative analysis of hearings conducted in face-to-face mode and in VEJ video-enabled mode, both before and after the implementation of the new equipment, supported a systematic appraisal of the differences and similarities as experienced by courtroom participants between these modes.
Aims and objectives
To assess the extent to which quantitative and qualitative benefits of the new digital and video equipment have been achieved. It will also identify any unintended consequences or issues resulting from the pilot initiative. Overall, the evaluation aims to inform the optimisation of the affordances offered by the VEJ platform and system.
Methodology
The evaluation will triangulate both primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data. The main stages of the research will involve:
- Desk-based research to appraise the policy context and review of the academic and practitioner literature bases.
- Systematic observations of the ‘before’ stage prior to the VEJ pilot, including video-enabled hearings with old-style technology and traditional face-to-face hearings.
- Systematic observations of the ‘after’ stage following the implementation of the VEJ pilot, including video enabled hearings with the new-style technology and traditional face-to-face hearings.
- The systematic observations will be analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential models, triangulated against qualitative field data.
- Semi-structured interviews with legal professionals, lay participants and other individuals with relevant knowledge and/or experience of the magistrates' courts.
- Analysis of secondary quantitative data.
Co-Investigator
Professor Sabine Braun
Professor of Translation Studies; Director, Centre for Translation Studies; Co-Director, Surrey Institute for People-Centred AI
Biography
I am a Professor of Translation Studies, Director of the Centre for Translation Studies, and a Co-Director of the Surrey Institute for People-Centred Artificial Intelligence at the University of Surrey in the UK. From 2017 to 2021 I also served as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Surrey.
My research explores the integration and interaction of human and machine in translation and interpreting, for example to improve access to critical information, media content and vital public services such as healthcare and justice for linguistic-minority populations and other groups/people in need of communication support. My overarching interest lies in the notions of fairness, trust, transparency, and quality in relation to technology use in these contexts.
For over 10 years, I have led a programme of research that has involved cross-disciplinary collaboration with academic and non-academic partners to improve access to justice for linguistically diverse populations. Under this programme, I have investigated the use of video links in legal proceedings involving linguistic-minority participants and interpreters from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. I have led several multi-national research projects in this field (AVIDICUS 1-3, 2008-16) while contributing my expertise in video interpreting to other projects in the justice sector (e.g. QUALITAS, 2012-14, Understanding Justice, 2013-16, VEJ Evaluation, 2018-20). I have advised the European Council Working Party on e-Law (e-Justice) and other justice-sector institutions in the UK and internationally on video interpreting in legal proceedings and have developed guidelines which have been reflected in European Council Recommendation 2015/C 250/01 on ‘Promoting the use of and sharing of best practices on cross-border videoconferencing’.
In other projects I have explored the use of videoconferencing and virtual reality to train users of interpreting services in how to communicate effectively through an interpreter IVY, 2011-3; EVIVA, 2014-15, SHIFT, 2015-18).
A further example of my work on accessibility is my research on audio description (video description) for visually impaired people. In the H2020 project MeMAD (2018-21) I have recently investigated the feasibility of (semi-)automating AD to improve access to media content that is not normally covered by human AD (e.g. social media content).
In 2019, the Research Centre I lead was awarded an ‘Expanding Excellence in England (E3)' grant (2019-24) by Research England to expand our research on human-machine integration in translation and interpreting. As part of this, I am currently leading and involved in a number of pilot studies aimed at better human-machine integration in different modalities of translation and interpreting.
The insights from my research have informed my teaching in interpreting and audiovisual translation on CTS’s MA programmes and the professional training courses that I have delivered (e.g. for the Metropolitan Police Service in London).
From 2018-2021 I was a member of the DIN Working Group on Interpreting Services and Technologies and co-authored the first standard on remote consecutive interpreting worldwide (DIN 8578). I am a member of the BSI Sub-committee Terminology. From 2018-2022, I was the series editor of the IATIS Yearbook (Routledge) and am currently associate series editor for interpreting of Elements in Translation and Interpreting (CUP) and a member of the Advisory Board of Interpreting (Benjamins). I was appointed to the sub-panel for Modern Languages and Linguistics for the Research Excellence Framework REF 2021.
