With the help of the interactive learning platform Court Introduction (Rättegångsskolan), victims of crime, plaintiffs and witnesses have the opportunity to learn more about how a trial works. The Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) is behind the product and Umeå company Accoll Interactive is in charge of the technical production.
Worried before trial
Ulf Hjerppe, information officer at the Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) says:
”We know that between 60 and 70 percent of those summoned to a trial are worried.”
For that reason the Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority has traveled Sweden for several years, arranging information nights, in order to explain what happens during a trial. These meetings developed over time and mini-plays and video sequences were gradually added to the seminars. The information was always highly appreciated, but reaching a larger number of people proved difficult. With this method at most 100 people a year could be reached.
Interactive learning platform reaches many
In order to reach more people, the interactive learning platform Court Introduction (Rättegångsskolan) was developed. This way a much larger part of the target group can access the information. After two years the results are good, and out of the 50,000 visits to the web page per year 40 percent fall within the primary target group, namely plaintiffs, witnesses and family members. The remaining 60 percent constitute visits from schools, universities and an interested general public.
Project director Ulf Hjerppe is pleased to see that the web instruction page is getting such a good response from the visitors. The web-based instruction page is getting as high a grade as the physical information evenings used to get.
”According to our estimates there are around 70,000 plaintiffs and witnesses a year in Sweden. With the online Court Instruction we can now reach 50,000 a year and we think that’s a very good number.”
The video above shows Court Introduction when it won the 2008 Medea Awards. On the video Margareta Bergström, general director of the Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority, talks about the project and brief clips are shown.
Natural with computer-aided instruction
According to Ulf Hjerppe Accoll Interactive was a big help when designing Court Instruction. When Accoll Interactive demonstrated other digital teaching aids that they had developed, among others Bonniers Traffic School (Bonniers Trafikskola), it became clear to the Criminal Victim Compensation and Support Authority that this was the way to design Court Instruction. When Accoll Interactive also suggested new functions such as 3D representations of courtrooms the result was even better.
Ulf Hjerppe says: “For the generation growing up today taking in information this way will be very easy. Computer-aided education is as natural to them as pencils and paper were to us growing up before.”
Wide age range
But Ulf Hjerppe stresses that Court Instructions is not a site especially for young people and he is pleased to see a wide age range among the visitors to the site. The youngest person to answer the evaluation questions on the site was 13 years old, and the oldest 77. That, says Ulf Hjerppe, shows that Court Instruction works for a variety of different age groups.
Important with an English version
In order to provide the same service to those who do not understand Swedish and want to study the information in another language, an English version of Court Introduction is now being launched.
The fact that Court Introduction is now available in English is important, says Ulf Hjerppe.
“It’s important that everybody who lives in Sweden has easily accessible, correct and relevant information about the legal process.”
But the English version also puts the Swedish judicial system on the international map.
“There is a substantial interest from other countries, and not least the EU commission wants to see more Court Introductions in more countries”, Ulf Hjerppe explains and reveals that they have already had an opportunity to demonstrate Court Introduction in countries such as Germany, Finland and Norway, to try to inspire others to create something similar.
Court Introduction has met with a lot of appreciation and has won awards in a number of contests such as the European e-Learning Awards, Medea Awards and the Swedish e-Learning Awards. Recently Court Introduction won the 2009 Knowledge Award in the Public Sector category.
