Gates of global perception: forensic graphics for evidence presentation

ABSTRACT

The admissibility of the inevitably increasing amount of digital evidence to the world's courtrooms may be one of the keys to the preservation of global justice. Digital evidence can take many forms, this paper will concentrate on both graphical evidence presentation technologies currently in use (such as forensic animations and interactive environments) and potential future applications (e.g. the introduction of more pervasive computer devices). Technologies utilising Computer Graphics (CG) and Virtual Reality (VR) for evidence presentation can have great persuasive powers. These can be perceived as a benefit in increasing the understanding of complicated technical information to a generic audience, or as a threat to justice introducing potential bias and prejudice.This paper describes some cases where CG and VR evidence has been previously admitted to courtrooms. It goes on to discuss the various factors affecting the admissibility of current digital evidence forms on a global scale and concludes by introducing new technologies which may have worldwide potential in the field of forensic evidence presentation.

REFERENCES

• 1: BBC News; Driver Bragged about killing policeman BBC News Online, Wed 13th Nov 2002 from URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2460325.stm (Version Current 4th Nov 2004)
• 2: Benford, S; Anastasi, R; Flintham, M; Drozd, A; Crabtree, A; Greenhalgh, C; Tandavinitz, N; Adams, M; Row-Farr, Ju; Coping with uncertainty in location based gaming, Pervasive Computing, IEEE CS and IEEE ComSoc, 2003
• 3: Beeharee, A; and Steed, A; Filtering Location-Based Information Using Visibility Location- and Context-Awareness (LoCA 2005) {Reviewed Workshop Proceedings, 2005
• 4: Barry Brown , Ian MacColl , Matthew Chalmers , Areti Galani , Cliff Randell , Anthony Steed, Lessons from the lighthouse: collaboration in a shared mixed reality system, Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, April 05-10, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA [doi>10.1145/642611.642711]
• 5: Burns, D.C., When Used in the Criminal Legal Process Forensic Science Shows a Bias in Favour of the Prosecution. Science and Justice, Volume 41, Number 4, pp 271--277, 2001.
• 6: Burton, A; Schofield, D; Benford, S; Novel Uses of Digital Technologies in the Collection, analysis and Presentation of Forensic Evidence; Submitted for ACM VRST 2005
• 7: Daily Telegraph; We know who killed the New Year's Day party girls(Filed: 26/10/2003) http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~dzs/news/Telegraph%20%20News.htm (Version current 4th November 2004)
• 8: Peter Dew , Aphrodite Galata , John Maxfield , Daniela Romano, Virtual artefacts to support negotiation within an augmented collaborative environment for alternate dispute resolution, Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Collaborative virtual environments, p.10-16, September 30-October 02, 2002, Bonn, Germany [doi>10.1145/571878.571881]
• 9: Goodwin, LM; Visualising Vehicle Accidents - Evidence Uncertainty, Presentation and Admissibility; Ph.D. Thesis, University of Nottingham, To be submitted 2005
• 10: Goodwin, LM; Digital Evidence in UK Courts; Criminal Justice Management; Sept 2002 P64--65
• 11: Goodwin, L. and Schofield, D., Visualising Uncertainty: Combining Forensic Evidence with Statistical Techniques, Proceedings of Expert Evidence: Causation, Proof and Presentation, Monash University, Italy, 2nd"5th July 2002.
• 12: Laryea, E.T. National Law Review. "The Evidential Status of Electronic Data."; from http://web.nlr.com.au/nlr/HTML/default.htm. (Accessed 14/9/00, Created 24/11/99)
• 13: Lederer, F I; The Road to the Virtual Courtroom: Consideration of Tomorrow's and Today's High Technology Courtrooms; 6th National Court Technology Conference (CTC6), National Center for State Courts, US Sept 14-16, 1999
• 14: Lederer, F.I.; and Solomon, S.H. "Courtroom Technology An Introduction to the Onrushing Future.Fifth National Court Technology Conference (CTC5); National Centre for State Courts. Session no. 103: Evidence Technology in the High-Tech Courtroom; from: http://www.ncsc.dni/TIS/CTC5/103.htm; (Accessed 7/1/00, Created September 1997, Revised 12/3/98).
• 15: March, J, Schofield, D, Evison, M and Woodford, N; Three-Dimensional Computer Visualisation of Forensic Pathology Data, American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Volume 25, Number 1, pp 60--70, March 2004.
• 16: Milgram, P; Kishino, F: A Taxonomy of Mixed Reality Visual Displays, IEICE Transactions on Information Systems; Vol E77-D No 12
• 17: Noond, J; Schofield, D; Visualising the Scene - Interactive Evidence: Litigation Graphics and Virtual Reality, Proceedings of Expert Evidence: Causation, Proof and Presentation, Monash University, Italy, 2nd 5th July 2002.
• 18: Noond, J; Schofield, D; March, J; Evison, M; Visualising the Scene Computer Graphics and Evidence Presentation; Science and Justice, Journal of The Forensic Science Society, Volume 42, Number 2, pp 89--96, June 2002.
• 19: O'Flaherty, Declan;. "Computer-Generated Displays in the Courtroom: For Better or Worse?Web Journal of Current Legal Issues from http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1996/issue4/oflah4.html (Accessed 7/1/00, Created 1996, Revised 30/9/96)
• 20: RealViz; MatchMover product web site: http://www.realviz.com/products/mpro/index.php
• 21: Reeves, S; Research Techniques for augmented Reality Experiences; University of Nottingham, from http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/%7Estr/doc/methods.pdf (Version Current 19th April 2005) 2004
• 22: Reeves, S; Fraser, M; Schnadelbach, H; O'Malley, C; Benford, S; Engaging Augmented reality in Public Places; CHI 2005, April 2nd-7th 2005, Portland, Oregon, USA
• 23: Roberts, GW; Evans, A; Dodson, A; Denby, B; Cooper, S; Hollands,R; Look Beneath the Surface with Augmented Reality; GPS World; Feb 3rd 2002 from http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=9516 (Version Current at 15th March 2005)
• 24: Schofield, D, Gates of Perception: Augmenting Understanding of Forensic Evidence; Proceedings of the Scientific Frontiers Conference; British association of Human Identification; Sheffield, 31st October -2nd November 2003
• 25: Schofield, D; Virtual Visualisations; Recent Advances in Forensic Evidence Analysis and Presentation; Criminal Justice Management, pp 22--23, January 2002
• 26: Schofield, D; Lester, E; Wilson, A; Virtual reality Interactive Learning Environments; University of Nottingham, http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~dzs/research/learning.pdf (Version Current 19th April 2005)
• 27: Schofield, D., Noond, J., Goodwin, L. and Fowle, K., Accident Scenarios: Using Computer Generated Forensic Animations, Journal of Occupational Health and Safety (Aus NZ), Volume 17, Number 2, pp 163--173, April 2001
• 28: M. Tarek Shalaby , N. Hussin , D. Schofield, Forensic Animation: Measuring the Reliability and Accuracy of Computer Generated Animation Used in the Courtroom, Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information Visualization, p.606, July 16-18, 2003

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Animations

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.1 Multimedia Information Systems
          Subjects: Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction (CAI)
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.2 Social Issues
          Subjects: Abuse and crime involving computers**

General Terms:
Documentation, Experimentation, Human Factors, Legal Aspects

Keywords:
augmented reality, evidence, forensic, global courtroom, mixed reality, mobile digital technologies, virtual reality