How do Generation Z Individuals Perceive the Reliability of Video and Image Evidence in Criminal Justice Cases in the Age of Deepfakes?
- 7 hours ago
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By Lucy Mae Cox,
Loughborough University.
This study explores how Generation Z (Gen-Z) individuals perceive the reliability of video and image evidence within criminal justice contexts in the age of deepfakes. The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence has challenged traditional assumptions regarding the objectivity and trustworthiness of visual evidence, raising concerns about both the manipulation and misinterpretation of digital media. Adopting an exploratory mixed-methods design, data was collected through an online questionnaire (n = 209) and semi-structured interviews (n = 12). Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rank-order correlations, while qualitative data was examined using thematic analysis. Findings indicate that although Gen-Z individuals demonstrate high awareness of deepfake technology, this does not result in a complete erosion of trust in digital evidence. Instead, participants exhibit a form of conditional trust, whereby the credibility of visual evidence is no longer assumed, rather it must be established through corroboration and expert validation. Institutional trust emerged as a key factor shaping perceptions of reliability, with confidence in the criminal justice system’s ability to detect manipulated media significantly associated with trust in digital evidence. These findings suggest that deepfakes are reshaping, rather than eliminating trust in digital evidence, with important implications for legal practice, policy development and future research.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21789187