Covid-19 and Technologically Enhanced Trials under the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act 2022: Have Remote Jury Trials Shifted from Criminal Justice Fiction to Virtual Reality?

This chapter examines the use of technology which has been designed to enhance the criminal trial in England and Wales. It argues that buried deep in the Police, Crime, and Sentencing Act is s.200 which, through the amendment of s.51 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, seeks to broaden the way in which video and audio connectivity are used in the criminal justice process in England and Wales. Notably, the Act empowers a judge to direct that jurors may participate in a trial remotely, but only where such an order is applied to the entire jury panel. In addition, the Act clearly paves the way for increased remote participation by counsel, witnesses, and defendants. In the midst and wake of Covid-19 such a move is, on its face, sensible. The Courts system all but ground to a halt during 2020 and 2021, adding to the already unacceptable backlog of cases and these changes may reduce the delays caused by the absence of key participants at a criminal trial. This chapter explores the extent to which an increased use of technology in the criminal trial can ensure that cases continue to be dealt with in a fair, just, and safe manner.