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New evidence, new challenges

Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Anne Hausknecht, Alice Liefgreen

Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Volume: 16, Issue: 1

Swansea University Authors: Yvonne McDermott Rees Orcid Logo, Anne Hausknecht, Alice Liefgreen

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DOI (Published version): 10.35295/osls.iisl.2375

Abstract

Evidence recorded on personal digital devices, or “user-generated evidence”, has profoundly shaped our ways of knowing about international criminal law violations, and can be expected to play an important role in future cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, given that interna...

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Published in: Oñati Socio-Legal Series
ISSN: 2079-5971 2079-5971
Published: Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71069
first_indexed 2025-12-03T18:14:20Z
last_indexed 2026-02-03T05:32:29Z
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spelling 2026-02-02T11:19:09.7834922 v2 71069 2025-12-03 New evidence, new challenges e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8 0000-0003-0111-9049 Yvonne McDermott Rees Yvonne McDermott Rees true false 080f820f9654e855145c7e8e4d2d9989 Anne Hausknecht Anne Hausknecht true false 5a11aaeb0cd68f36ec54c5534dc541bd Alice Liefgreen Alice Liefgreen true false 2025-12-03 HRCL Evidence recorded on personal digital devices, or “user-generated evidence”, has profoundly shaped our ways of knowing about international criminal law violations, and can be expected to play an important role in future cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, given that international criminal trials tend to take place many years after the alleged violations, trials using this type of evidence have been relatively limited in number to date. This research, comprising of qualitative interviews with judges of the ICC, provides important insights into how ICC judges define user-generated evidence and perceive its strengths and weaknesses. The article also sheds light on the readiness of the Court to adapt to judging in an age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using grounded theory to analyse interview content, we identified several key themes consistent with the existing literature, while also drawing out novel observations from judges. These included concerns about the perceived importance and potential bias of evidence sources; the practical challenges of employing user-generated evidence given the sheer volume of material and the Court’s technological capacities; the burden placed on the parties to ensure the reliability of the evidence they present, and to rigorously challenge the opposing party’s evidence, and the importance of preparing legal professionals for this new era in light of the risks associated with misinformation and disinformation, including from AI-generated or AI-edited content. Journal Article Oñati Socio-Legal Series 16 1 Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2079-5971 2079-5971 User-generated evidence, citizen evidence, International Criminal Court, judges, deepfakes 23 1 2026 2026-01-23 10.35295/osls.iisl.2375 COLLEGE NANME Hillary Rodham Clinton Law School COLLEGE CODE HRCL Swansea University Not Required The research upon which this article is based was conducted as part of the project, “Trust in User-generated Evidence: Analysing the Impact of Deepfakes on Accountability Processes for Human Rights Violations (TRUE)”, selected for funding by the European Research Council and funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Horizon Europe guarantee scheme (grant no. EP/X016021/1). 2026-02-02T11:19:09.7834922 2025-12-03T18:11:36.3612612 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Yvonne McDermott Rees 0000-0003-0111-9049 1 Anne Hausknecht 2 Alice Liefgreen 3 71069__36098__746301ce17ec451f860329498095a5c4.pdf 71069.pdf 2026-01-26T09:10:22.7330353 Output 462810 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright (c) 2026 Prof. Yvonne McDermott, Anne Hausknecht, Dr Alice Liefgreen. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
title New evidence, new challenges
spellingShingle New evidence, new challenges
Yvonne McDermott Rees
Anne Hausknecht
Alice Liefgreen
title_short New evidence, new challenges
title_full New evidence, new challenges
title_fullStr New evidence, new challenges
title_full_unstemmed New evidence, new challenges
title_sort New evidence, new challenges
author_id_str_mv e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8
080f820f9654e855145c7e8e4d2d9989
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author_id_fullname_str_mv e6e1ae537327fc3f38d2af4a9d9834d8_***_Yvonne McDermott Rees
080f820f9654e855145c7e8e4d2d9989_***_Anne Hausknecht
5a11aaeb0cd68f36ec54c5534dc541bd_***_Alice Liefgreen
author Yvonne McDermott Rees
Anne Hausknecht
Alice Liefgreen
author2 Yvonne McDermott Rees
Anne Hausknecht
Alice Liefgreen
format Journal article
container_title Oñati Socio-Legal Series
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publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
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doi_str_mv 10.35295/osls.iisl.2375
publisher Onati International Institute for the Sociology of Law
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
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department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
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description Evidence recorded on personal digital devices, or “user-generated evidence”, has profoundly shaped our ways of knowing about international criminal law violations, and can be expected to play an important role in future cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, given that international criminal trials tend to take place many years after the alleged violations, trials using this type of evidence have been relatively limited in number to date. This research, comprising of qualitative interviews with judges of the ICC, provides important insights into how ICC judges define user-generated evidence and perceive its strengths and weaknesses. The article also sheds light on the readiness of the Court to adapt to judging in an age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Using grounded theory to analyse interview content, we identified several key themes consistent with the existing literature, while also drawing out novel observations from judges. These included concerns about the perceived importance and potential bias of evidence sources; the practical challenges of employing user-generated evidence given the sheer volume of material and the Court’s technological capacities; the burden placed on the parties to ensure the reliability of the evidence they present, and to rigorously challenge the opposing party’s evidence, and the importance of preparing legal professionals for this new era in light of the risks associated with misinformation and disinformation, including from AI-generated or AI-edited content.
published_date 2026-01-23T05:34:21Z
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