Academic Journal
Operational definitions and evidentiary readiness for XR, digital twins, virtual worlds and metaverse-like systems in forensic and legal medicine.
| Τίτλος: | Operational definitions and evidentiary readiness for XR, digital twins, virtual worlds and metaverse-like systems in forensic and legal medicine. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Sirago G; Section of Legal Medicine, Policlinico of Bari, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. Electronic address: gianmarco.sirago@uniba.it., Calò F; Section of Legal Medicine, Policlinico of Bari, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy., Solarino B; Section of Legal Medicine, Policlinico of Bari, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy., Dell'Erba A; Section of Legal Medicine, Policlinico of Bari, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy., Ferorelli D; Section of Legal Medicine, Policlinico of Bari, University of Bari, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, 70124 Bari, Italy. |
| Πηγή: | Science & justice : journal of the Forensic Science Society [Sci Justice] 2026 Jul; Vol. 66 (4), pp. 101468. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 18. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9508563 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1876-4452 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13550306 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Sci Justice Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: London : Elsevier Original Publication: Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK ; Middlesex, NJ : The Society, c1995- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Virtual Reality* , Forensic Medicine* , User-Computer Interface*, Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Forensic Sciences |
| Περίληψη: | Extended reality (XR), three-dimensional reconstructions, digital twins, virtual worlds and metaverse-like environments are increasingly proposed for forensic and legal medicine, yet the field - including our own earlier contributions - is fragmented by heterogeneous terminology and aspirational claims that are rarely specified in a verifiable manner. This ambiguity undermines reproducibility, impedes comparison across studies, and risks premature courtroom use of visually persuasive but insufficiently validated reconstructions. Here we propose an operational, anti-hype taxonomy that distinguishes extended reality (XR: virtual, augmented and mixed reality), digital twins, virtual worlds, and metaverse-like environments in ways that are actionable for forensic workflows. We define what is and what is not 'metaverse' in a forensic context by specifying minimum evidentiary criteria: persistence, synchronous multi-user interaction, identity/role management, interaction traceability (audit trail), and interoperability or at least portable state capture, all under explicit data governance. We then map functional categories (training and competency maintenance; scene investigation; autopsy and post-mortem imaging augmentation; injury documentation and reconstruction; courtroom visualisation; remote collaboration and teleforensics) to typical medico-legal workflows, identifying where spatial technologies can add measurable value and where they introduce non-trivial risks, including perceptual and cognitive biases, error propagation from acquisition and registration, and threats to provenance and chain of custody. Finally, we articulate minimum 'evidentiary readiness' requirements and a research agenda to move the field from demonstrations to evidence-grade systems: benchmark datasets, uncertainty quantification, black-box/ground-truth validation studies, human-factors evaluations, and standardised reporting and governance. This vocabulary and taxonomy are intended as a shared baseline for authors, reviewers, laboratories and courts considering XR and metaverse-like tools in forensic settings. (Copyright © 2026 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Chain of custody; Digital methods; Extended reality; Forensic science; Legal medicine; Virtual reality |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260709 Date Completed: 20260710 Latest Revision: 20260709 |
| Update Code: | 20260711 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scijus.2026.101468 |
| PMID: | 42425616 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
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