Video link trials ‘undermine respect for law’

Magistrates complain that defendants don’t take courts seriously, citing one who appeared in his bath

TRIAL by video link has diminished respect for the courts, with some defendants even appearing in the bath, magistrates have complained.

The JPs admit they are struggling to get defendants in remote hearings to take the court seriously and not treat it like an appearance on social media.

In a report for the Magistrates Association on the impact of video hearings, they said defendants appeared from their homes half-naked, slumped in their sofas, disengaged or distracted by having friends or family in the room.

There was one case in which a “handler” from the defendant’s county lines drug gang was in the room with him.

He was only discovered after a suspicious magistrate demanded the defendant use his mobile phone to provide a 360-degree view of the room.

“Magistrates felt remote links were responsible for undermining respect for the court and that this was a major downside to their use,” said the report. “They feared if parties did not take the court process seriously, trust in the justice system would be gradually eroded.”

More than two thirds of the magistrates questioned for the study said video links had a negative impact.

They cited “lack of responses”, “stilted responses”, “general disengagement or unwillingness to talk”, “slumped posture” and “inappropriate settings with multiple distractions” as among the problems

One said: “Some defendants appearing remotely have had a complete lack of respect …including but not limited to: appearing while in the bath, being half naked, smoking and treating the process like social media.”

Some magistrates were concerned the use of a video link made the court process “just another internet connection”, diminishing its seriousness.

One said: “Many times, the defendants just ‘switched off ’ totally, or kept shouting abuse because they said ‘this is not justice’.”

A third magistrate described being alerted to fears that a young defendant was being “influenced” by someone in his house even though he was supposed to be self-isolating.

“It turned out his county lines handler was in the room,” they said.

“Every time I have a youth now, I insist they go around 360 degrees to make sure there’s nobody else in the room unless it’s their mother or father. That was a very disturbing situation.”

The problems were compounded by technical difficulties, including complete breakdowns of the technology.

Three quarters of the magistrates (76 per cent) said video links rendered communication with adult defendants more difficult while two thirds said it made communication with lawyers harder. More than half said it had a negative impact on their morale.

Penelope Gibbs, founder of Transform Justice, who conducted the research, said: “This research shows that video justice serves neither defendants nor magistrates.”

A spokesman for the courts service said 93 percent of legal representatives had been satisfied with the use of remote hearings during the pandemic.

“All magistrates receive IT training on court technology and our new remote video hearing service better replicates the formality of a courtroom.”