“Court Can Happen Anywhere”: Courtroom Workgroup Members’ Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities of a Transformed Workplace

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated lasting changes in a traditionally staid and inert court system. This study employs a courtroom communities perspective to examine how courtroom workgroup members perceived COVID-19’s impact on their work, their workgroup relationships, and the future of criminal court procedures. It analyzes data from semi-structured interviews with 22 prosecutors, 17 defense attorneys, and 10 judges in Milwaukee, WI, and St. Louis, MO. We find that moving to virtual proceedings limited opportunities for informal interaction. The immediate impact was to upend the courtroom communities’ familiarity, proximity, and stability with implications for plea negotiations and case resolution. Nevertheless, most participants supported using virtual proceedings for certain types of court hearings. Public defenders were more likely than prosecutors, judges, or private defense attorneys to express concerns about technological difficulties for defendants. We conclude by discussing policy and practice implications and identifying areas for future research.