{"title":"When believing can be seeing: The unregulated approach to video evidence in U.S. courts and the need for archival legal standards","authors":"Sandra Ristovska","doi":"10.5210/fm.v28i7.13231","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the unregulated approach to video evidence in U.S. courts. It provides an overview of three key factors that contribute to the inconsistent treatment of video as evidence: the shifting and uncertain categories under which video is admitted as evidence, the discrepancies in how video is perceived and interpreted, and the lack of widespread legal training in visual literacy. Together, these factors exacerbate the challenges that visual perception and interpretation pose in court, as illustrated by the analysis of the varied use of video by district and appellate courts at summary judgment in McDowell v. Sherrer, a case involving an Eight Amendment excessive force claim. By discussing these challenges, the paper argues for the necessity of archival legal standards, which could facilitate research into uniform guidance and applications for treating video as evidence. Otherwise, civil rights and human rights may be disparately recognized and upheld.","PeriodicalId":38833,"journal":{"name":"First Monday","volume":"123 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"First Monday","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v28i7.13231","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Computer Science","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
This paper examines the unregulated approach to video evidence in U.S. courts. It provides an overview of three key factors that contribute to the inconsistent treatment of video as evidence: the shifting and uncertain categories under which video is admitted as evidence, the discrepancies in how video is perceived and interpreted, and the lack of widespread legal training in visual literacy. Together, these factors exacerbate the challenges that visual perception and interpretation pose in court, as illustrated by the analysis of the varied use of video by district and appellate courts at summary judgment in McDowell v. Sherrer, a case involving an Eight Amendment excessive force claim. By discussing these challenges, the paper argues for the necessity of archival legal standards, which could facilitate research into uniform guidance and applications for treating video as evidence. Otherwise, civil rights and human rights may be disparately recognized and upheld.
First MondayComputer Science-Computer Networks and Communications
CiteScore
2.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
86
期刊介绍:
First Monday is one of the first openly accessible, peer–reviewed journals on the Internet, solely devoted to the Internet. Since its start in May 1996, First Monday has published 1,035 papers in 164 issues; these papers were written by 1,316 different authors. In addition, eight special issues have appeared. The most recent special issue was entitled A Web site with a view — The Third World on First Monday and it was edited by Eduardo Villanueva Mansilla. First Monday is indexed in Communication Abstracts, Computer & Communications Security Abstracts, DoIS, eGranary Digital Library, INSPEC, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, LISA, PAIS, and other services.