Beyond The Courtroom: The Impact Of Social Media On High-Profile Cases In The Era Of 21st Century
- IJLLR Journal
- Apr 4
- 2 min read
Arpita Jain, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management and Studies, Navi Mumbai
Kanishka Shukla, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management and Studies, Navi Mumbai
ABSTRACT
With social media becoming a common part of human life by each passing day, it is not surprising that even our legal system is not isolated from social media, social media has been a boon as well as a bane, it has changed many things and one of them is perception regarding how high profile cases are perceived, handled and decided. This research focuses mainly on the effect of social media on the legal system and particularly on high profile cases, This study looks into how the opinion of the public is influenced by the social media often creating narratives even before the trial begins, along with the influence on public opinion it further studies on the impact of social media trial/ media trial on the legal proceedings such as jury selection and biases, and general courtroom dynamics answering the question Are Judges Influenced By Parallel Trials? Also this study examines the impact of social media on different high profile cases from past decade by studying individual case studies and deducing both the positive and negative role of social media has played in the outcomes of these prominent cases, calling into question the legal system’s ability to remain impartial in the digital era. With the access of social media to almost everyone in the world, now defendants, victims and their families are subjected to the intense public scrutiny which can have negative impact on their mental health increasing the stress of legal process, this research will look into the psychological effect on defendant, victim and their families. This research does not only emphasise on the fact of social media being double edge sword acting as both informant and disrupter but also focused on the importance of legal reforms needed in the era of social media giving solutions for guaranteeing fairness and protection in high profile cases.
Keywords: social media, high-profile cases, public opinion, legal process, ethics, mental health, justice system.
