The Virtual Criminal Justice Conference 2024

The Virtual Criminal Justice Conference

Lund 10-11 June 2024

Closed for registration.

Contact virtualcriminaljustice [at] soc [dot] lu [dot] se (virtualcriminaljustice[at]soc[dot]lu[dot]se) with any questions.

Conference Programme

DAY 1 – MONDAY 10 JUNE 2024

• 8.30-9.00: Registration and coffee
• 9:00-9:30: Welcome greeting by Agnes Andersson (Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Lund University) and the conference organisers.

Keynote speech: Carolyn McKay (University of Sydney Law School, Australia): “Virtual criminal justice and vulnerability” (unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, Carolyn is unable to attend the conference and will instead give a recorded keynote speech).

9:30-11:30: Session 1 – Working in virtual courtrooms

Chair: Linnea  Wegerstad (Department of Law, Lund University)

• Dorris de Vocht (University of Tilburg, the Netherlands), “This TV is talking to me: remote justice in Dutch criminal procedure”
• Nina Immonen (Department of Development, Finland): “The real thing in the Finnish courtrooms: digital presence and the myth of digitalization making things easier for the courts”
• Anni Lietonen & Julia Korkman (European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI)): “Experiences of Finnish district court judges on using remote hearings and pretrial recordings”

Panel discussion: Lennart Johansson (Judge, Helsingborg District Court, Sweden), Marcus Larsson, (Lawyer, Luterkort Law Firm, Sweden), Emma Olsson (Prosecutor, Malmö, Sweden)

11:30-11:45: Coffee break

11:45-13:15: Session 2 - Giving evidence in virtual courtrooms

Chair: Christina Peristeridou (Maastricht University) 

• Dan Jasinski (University of Northampton, UK): “Evidential issues in technology enhanced trials: the demise of the ‘smoking gun’?”
• Sławomir Steinborn, Maciej Fingas, Dawid Marko, Piotr Rogoziński (University of Gdansk, Poland), & Michał Parzuchowski (University SWPS Poland): “Hearing of a witness in the courtroom vs. videoconference. Preliminary results of an empirical research”
• Shailesh Kumar (Royal Holloway, University of London): “Using Video-links in Child Sexual Abuse Trials in India: Child-friendliness by Virtual Participation or Compromising the Due-Process?”

13:15- 14:30: Lunch

14:30-16:00: Session 3 – Emotions and experience in virtual courtrooms

Chair: Karolina Kremens (University of Wrocław, Poland)

• Lisa Flower (Lund University): “Video-links, digital justice rituals and courtroom atmospheres”
• Jessica Jacobson & Amy Kirby, (Birkbeck University of London): “Video-link attendance and quality of experience: A comparative analysis”
• Isabel Schoultz (Lund University, Sweden), Nina Törnqvist (Uppsala University, Sweden) & Fanny Holm (Umeå University, Sweden): “Distances and glitches – notes on emotion work over video links"

16:00-16:15: Coffee

16:15-17:00: Discussion – Moderators: Dorris de Vocht, Lisa Flower, Christina Peristeridou

18:00: Conference dinner

DAY 2 – TUESDAY 11 JUNE 2024

8:30-9:00: Coffee

9:00-11:00: Session 4 - Due process in virtual courtrooms

Chair: Ole Hammerslev (Department of Sociology of Law, University of Lund)

• Ashlee Beazley (KU Leuven, Belgium): “Lawyer-client confidentiality, virtual (remote) participation and the lack of a minimum standard: how should key components of the right to an effective defence be guaranteed “online”?
• Anna Pivaty (Radboud University, NL): “The lawyer in virtual criminal proceedings and the defendant’s access to criminal justice”
• Lorenzo Bernardini (University of Luxembourg): “Conceptualizing Digital Participation at Criminal Trials in Europe: How Should We Construct It?”
• Christina Peristeridou (Maastricht University): “Towards a concept of remote effective participation”

11:00-11:15: Coffee

11:15-12:45 Session 5 - Transnational virtual courtrooms

Chair: Amedeo Barletta (Attorney, European Criminal Bar Association)

• Karolina Kremens (University of Wrocław, Poland): “Videoconferences in the EU cross-border criminal proceedings under European Investigation Order”
• Saskia Hufnagel (University of Sydney): “Video Links in international cooperation in criminal matters”
• Cloé Dubuc (Canada Research Chair in International Criminal Justice and Human Rights): “ Digital Witnesses: Video-Link Testimonies and the Fairness of Proceedings at the International Criminal Court”

12:45-13:45: Lunch

13:45-15:15 Session 6 – Avatars and virtual reality in the courtroom

Chair: Dorris de Vocht (Tilburg University) and Lisa Flower (Lund University)

• Avni Bahri & Arshia Sana (Jindal Global Law School, India): “Justice in 3D: Navigating Virtual Reality in Criminal Trials in India”
• Volker Settgast (Fraunhofer Austria Research Gmbh): “Remote Court Hearings with Virtual Avatars”

15:15-15:30 Closing of the conference

Useful information

The conference will be held at the School of Social Work (Faculty of Social Sciences, Allhelgona kyrkogata 8, Lund) in room Sh128, adjacent to the main foyer. 

Find the School of Social Work on google maps.

We also serve lunch and refreshments on site.

The conference dinner will be held on June 10th at Torget (Stortorget 9, Lund) which is the restaurant in Lund’s City Hall (Stadshuset).

Find the restaurant on google maps.

WiFi connection

Eduroam is available, or LU Guest network

Here's how to connect to the LU Guest network:

1. Select LU Guest and connect to LU Guest in available networks on your device.
2. You should now get a page for SMS registration. If it does not come up automatically, start a browser and surf to lu.se to get to sms registration.
3. Enter your name and phone number, read and accept the terms and conditions and click Register.
4. Enter the code you receive via SMS and click Log in.

The Virtual Criminal Justice Network

The conference is organised by the Virtual Criminal Justice Network, an interdisciplinary network founded by researchers at Lund University, Maastricht University, Tilburg University and the University of Sydney.

More information on the Virtual Criminal Justice Network.