The Pixelated Prisoner: Prison Video Links, Court ‘Appearance’ and the Justice Matrix; The Murder of Childhood: Inside the Mind of One of Britain’s Most Notorious Child Murderers (Special 25th Anniversary Edition)
| Date | 01 September 2019 |
| Published date | 01 September 2019 |
| Author | Mike Guilfoyle,Ian MacFadyen |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550519864767 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews
Book reviews
The Pixelated Prisoner: Prison Video Links, Court
‘Appearance’ and the Justice Matrix
Carolyn McKay
Routledge; 2018, pp.228; £92.00; hbk
ISBN: 978-1-138-08510-7
Reviewed by: Mike Guilfoyle, Professional Associate Member, Napo
This highly recommended, insightful, and accessibly written book is based on sound
empirical research, drawn mainly from ethnographic fieldwork in separate cor-
rectional facilities in New South Wales (Australia) arising from the author’s doctoral
thesis. In this, she critically examined aspects of how digital communication tech-
nologies, in particular audiovisual links in the court and prison setting, might serve
to impede or enhance access to justice in legal procedures, given the fast-paced
and proliferating use of such technologies in both the criminal and the civil justice
sectors globally. There is a refreshing emphasis on the impact of communication
technologies from the viewpoint of imprisoned defendants, often neglected voices
in this field, and these user perspectives add significantly to the richness of the text.
By pointedly identifying how such high-tech changes alter courtroom dynamics
and help to transform the embodied experiences of defendants, given that the major
portal for prisoners’ interaction with the outside world is now becoming the video
link, she deftly explores some of the evident unease expressed in the research
literature at the possible implications of such transformative changes to procedural
justice. But by also aiming to frame this within a wider policy context in which
an incessant quest for cost reductions, greater efficiencies, and expedient justice,
the video link is now fast displacing the physical presence of the defendant.
The author also conducted some of her observational fieldwork at Camberwell
Magistrates’ Court and at Snaresbrook Crown Court and opines that with the likely
expansion of virtual justice and prison video links, as envisaged in the Prisons
and Courts Bill 2017, that further empirical research into the impacts on the quality
of justice is required to avoid doing a disservice to defendants.
Probation Journal
2019, Vol. 66(3) 375–378
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550519864767
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
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