Extended Reality Technologies: Transforming the Future of Crime Scene Investigation

The integration of Extended Reality (XR) technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), is transforming forensic investigation by empowering processes such as crime scene reconstruction, evidence analysis, and pro-fessional training. This manuscript presents a systematic review of technological advanc-es in XR technologies developed and employed for forensic investigation, their impacts, challenges, and prospects for the future. A systematic review was carried out based on the PRISMA® methodology and considering articles published in repositories and scientific databases such as SCOPUS, Science Direct, PubMed, Web of Science, Taylor and Francis and IEEE Xplore; two observers carried out the selection of articles and a Cohen's Kappa coefficient of 0.7226 (substantial agreement) was evaluated. The results show that XR technologies contribute to improving accuracy, efficiency, and collaboration in forensic investigation processes, in addition to this, it facilitates the preservation of crime scene data and reduce training costs. Technological limitations, implementation costs, ethical aspects, and challenges persist in the acceptability of these devices. XR technologies have significant transformative potential in forensic investigations, although additional re-search is required to overcome current barriers and establish standardized protocols that enable their effective integration.