Slow Motion Bias in Legal Video Evidence

Video evidence has gained increasing significance in legal proceedings (Xiao et al., 2019), primarily due to the growing availability of easily accessible video recording devices, such as smartphones (Caruso et al., 2016; Tuma, 2017; Xiao et al., 2019), surveillance cameras (Caruso et al., 2016; Xiao et al., 2019), or the expanded use of video recording by law enforcement, such as body-worn cameras (Hyland, 2018; Müller, 2016; Turner et al., 2019). Compared to other types of evidence, such as witness testimony, video evidence is considered a more objective source as, e.g., it portrays events and actions without emotional interpretation (Tuma, 2017). In addition, video recordings allow for multiple views and, because of the potential for reduced playback speed, offer the purported benefit of close examination of, for example, quick actions or disordered contexts (Caruso et al., 2016). However, recent research on time perception has shown that actions replayed in slow motion are perceived as taking longer and are rated as more intentional and can thus influence viewers' perceptions and judgments (Caruso et al., 2016; Hüttner et al., 2023).