V. Digital Solutions for Criminal Sanctions and their Enforcement

4. Conclusions

In summary, regarding experiences of the Hungarian application of video conferencing, it can be concluded that this type of video communication meets the requirements of efficiency and cost savings, although it does have disadvantages. Such communication results in interactions in which the traditional face-to-face relationships and their personal nature are overtaken by a virtual, more impersonal medium. The situation reshaped by the video connection also reshapes its actors: it supposes different skills, abilities and attitudes on the part of the judges, the penitentiary system, legal representatives and the prisoners. Despite the negative undertones, the positive experiences of video conferencing seem to outweigh these and suggest a likely rise in the need for a more widespread application of these tools in the field of criminal justice, in more and more countries in the near future. And lastly, as a final remark, the Covid-19 pandemic in Hungary proved that despite the acknowledgement of the possible negative aspects, the hearing of the inmates by judicial and law enforcement authorities via online communication can be ensured without inmates leaving the prisons. Sayfa 144