Earlier when video technology was not available, all legal depositions used to be recorded in deposition transcriptions. In such cases if any witness strayed from his or her earlier statements, the prosecution or defense lawyer would show the transcription and remind them of their original statement. But, often the transcriptions had loop holes, due to poor documentation which allowed the witnesses to get away with minor changes in their statements, which at times were instrumental in determining the fate of the case. With the advancement in video technology, a trend of video depositions started in which the testifying witness was simply recorded on the video tape. This served as a visual record, instead of an audio one, which prevented them from making any changes in the courtroom. Nowadays most legal firms use video court reporting services, and for those who don't, here are few main advantages of video testimonies:-
- The ability to record non-verbal information: Credibility of what a person says is often reflected in his attitude, voice tone and body language. But these important insights about the witness cannot be documented in written transcriptions. However, video court reporters record these personal attributes of witnesses in video tapes, to be presented to the jury, if the need pops up.
- Increases the trustworthiness of Attorneys: No matter how precisely a jury is screened, most people often see attorneys with suspicion. For most of the common people, prosecutors are committed only in getting convictions, while defense attorneys are focused only on getting acquittals. Video transcriptions recorded by reveal what exactly the witness has to say, instead of the attorney trying to interpret the witness written transcriptions in the manner which suits him the best. This increases the credibility of attorneys who are always viewed with suspicion in public domain.
- Achieving faster verdicts: Legal cases often take very long time to reach a verdict. This is at times done deliberately by the lawyers to buy time, and the most common tool for lengthening a case is testifying the witnesses back and forth under the pretext of revealing their true colors. Moreover if a witness has been coached by the attorney, no matter how hard the other attorney tries, the witness won't deviate and reveal his true colors. But, at the time of depositions, when a witness testifies immediately after the incident, he says whatever is true instead of cooking up stories with the attorneys to strengthen or weaken the case. Hence, Video testimonies of un-maligned witnesses exactly reveal their true nature, and prevent the attorneys from deliberately lengthening the case under this pretext.
