Lott Honors Thesis (Spring 2022)

There are numerous possibilities for virtual reality (VR) to improve upon the dissemination of information in several professional fields. Virtual reality has the capacity to be a useful tool in the judicial system related to its use in the presentation of evidence to juries and other persons. Crime scenes are a crucial part of an investigation but are difficult to present to a jury. This experiment proposes an investigation to study the difference in the emotional impact of showing jurors an immersive virtual reality representation of a crime scene compared to traditional crime scene photos and the subsequent impact that the VR crime scene tour has on juror decision making. Participants will be randomly assigned to either a 3D VR recreation of a crime scene or be presented with crime scene photos. User responses will then be collected. The following study proposes a prototype for the recreation of a crime scene in VR using the real-world children of Darlie Routier murder case study.