Ways of seeing: The power and limitation of video evidence across law and policy

Abstract

Legal and policy considerations about the mechanisms driving visual attention, perception, and interpretation have not always kept pace with the ever-increasing use of video as evidence. Discussing existing and emerging challenges with the authentication and interpretation of video as evidence, this article argues that a critical understanding of visual epistemologies across law and policy domains remains a critical task. Drawing on research presented in each of the articles in this special issue, it suggests that sound policy, guidance, and education on the wide-ranging evidentiary functions and limitations of video may be especially important at this critical juncture when generative AI threatens to exacerbate existing challenges with visual meaning making more broadly.