VR prison used as deterrence strategy in crime education
A woman uses a VR smart device to get the feel of life in prison.
A digital tour into a realistic prison cell with bars and the scary results of drug abuse are being shown to jolt the awareness of those who have committed crimes and deter them from re-offending.
Visual Reality (VR) devices loaded with simulated scenes of prison life, drunken driving and drug abuse have been introduced to re-educate people on probation in Minhang District.
Minhang's justice bureau and prosecutors have jointly launched specific measures on how to conduct such VR education among the district's offenders this year. It is the city's first step into such detailed and systematic measures to counteract crime.
They have been adopted to provide those who break laws but are not sentenced to jail terms with an immersive experience of prison life.
"With the COVID-19 pandemic conditions, VR education has offered valuable advantages – both convenient and effective," said Guo Jianping, head of the community correction center of Minhang District Justice Bureau.
"While what they can watch and experience via the VR device is not being suffered by them, we will assign the scenes they need to experience based on their previous learning and crime situation," Guo explained.
The new measures clearly list the circumstances under which VR-based correction can be used to educate criminals. It also targets underage offenders.
A woman uses a control to finish the tasks in a "digital prison."
The correction center will consider the age, physical and mental features, growth experience, crime reasons, and family conditions of underage offenders to arrange the appropriate VR educational content.
Zou, a 21-year-old man, who was a minor when he committed crime, felt scared after getting into the digital prison. It was the first time he knew what the jail cells were really like.
"I will behave good in the future and work hard," Zou said.
He was sentenced to a two-year jail term with a two-year probation for manslaughter.
"Because he was not an adult at the time of the crime, his sentencing is based on laws related to minors' protection," said Xu, a prosecutor of Minhang District People's Procuratorate, who is in charge of Zou's case.
"The VR immersive education is a good way to give him a strong deterrent to heighten his awareness of obeying the laws."
Xu also talked with Zou after his VR experience.
"Every time he finishes an on-site correction course, we get to know and record his reflections, feelings and conditions. If it is necessary, we will also give him psychological counseling," Xu said.
VR devices are loaded with three kinds of scenes, including prison life, drunken-driving and the hazards of drug abuse.
The VR immersive experience on real prison life can also be used for people who have never been put in custody, have many criminal offenses or have over two-year prison terms with probation.
The center will choose the drunken-driving VR scenes for high-risk people on probation such as who are managing business or salesmen.
Huang, a 31-year-old man who works in an investment advisory company, took a drunken-driving VR experience in which he was put in the driver's seat and felt the visual impact of a car accident.
"The scene was quite real and shocking, and will remind me not to break the law for a long time in the future," Huang said.
Zhang, a 24-year-old woman with one-year compulsory probation for indecent assault on women, said after the VR education, "If you break the law, you will cause great harm to your family as well."
"What impressed me most is that freedom is so precious," she said.
The VR education program has been implemented in all community correction centers in Shanghai, according to Guo.
It is primarily for deterring people from committing crime, reducing the possibility of recurrence among those with a criminal background, and having a positive effect on keeping society stable in the long run.
China released policies to deploy VR technology in crime deterrence last year. In September 2020, Tianjin in northern China was one of the first cities to use VR on people who commit a crime but ask to be reformed out of jail.
Subsequently, Shanghai and Suzhou, in neighboring Jiangsu Province, launched the relevant program at the end of 2021.
Minhang District has also launched an online mandatory learning platform for correctional personnel amid the COVID-19 situation.
A staff member introduces the VR device used for probation education.
