Online Courts Research Project
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020 accelerated the use of online hearings in courts in Victoria, Australia and around the world.
While the crisis response to the pandemic has ended and online hearings are now used less frequently, the use of this technology has become a normalised and important feature of the justice system.
Against this backdrop, Court Services Victoria commissioned the Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) to conduct the Online Courts Research Project and explore professional and public court user experiences of online hearings; to understand the insights gained from their use; and to inform their use in the future. This progression to a ‘new norm’ presented the opportunity to reflect on how online hearings are now working and how they can best be used beyond crisis response.
The CIJ’s wide-ranging research spanned engagement across the Supreme Court of Victoria, County Court of Victoria, Magistrates’ Court of Victoria, Children’s Court of Victoria, Coroner’s Court of Victoria and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). The CIJ engaged professional court users (e.g. judicial officers, lawyers, court staff, and support practitioners), as well as public court users (e.g. respondents, applicants, witnesses, victims, parties to civil matters and people in prison custody.
The CIJ research found that Online hearings can play an important role in supporting access to justice, participation, and also can play a critical role in supporting physical safety and emotional wellbeing. However, Online hearings can raise challenges for the participation of some court users and can also create barriers and ‘digital disadvantage’.
The CIJ made six key recommendations in relation to best practice technology-related initiatives for online hearings, and a further eight key recommendations in relation to best practice support, training, and information initiatives for online hearings.
