Joyce Plotnikoff

This is the first book about the intermediary scheme, criminal justice's untold 'good news story'. It provides a comprehensive explanation of how intermediaries work in practice and gives 'behind the scenes' insights into the criminal process. It will be of interest to practitioners and the wider public.

It is a police responsibility when planning a witness interview to identify ‘vulnerability’, encompassing communication needs by virtue of age or other factor (see toolkit 10, Identifying vulnerability of witnesses and defendants, www.theadvocatesgateway.org).When someone is recognised as vulnerable, special procedures come into play. Achieving Bes...

The justice system has improved physical accessibility, for example through providing ramps for wheelchairs in court buildings, but it still has much to learn about communication ‘ramps’ – visual tools like pictures, symbols and figures to support communication (see, for example, Schalling, 2009). While few people rely on ‘augmentative and alternat...

This chapter summarises research on leading questions, showing that they undermine witness accuracy and pose a high risk for the quality of evidence of vulnerable witnesses. It then considers a series of Court of Appeal decisions which together signal the need for a changed approach from advocates and further empower judges to control cross-examina...

Intermediaries are not like interpreters who can be booked at the last minute to turn up and translate questions and answers. Their work begins with an informal meeting with the witness for the purpose of building rapport and assessing the person’s communication skills. This forms the basis of recommendations about how best to communicate with the...

Since special measures were introduced by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, courts have implemented a raft of changes to help vulnerable witnesses give their best evidence. The process has acquired new momentum and scope through the input of intermediaries. The most recent of the changes are also the most profound; they involve resh...

Of all the legislative special measures intended to assist vulnerable witnesses, intermediaries have the greatest potential to help those with a communication need to give their best evidence. In the UK, 1% of people are estimated to have speech, language or communication problems sufficient to affect everyday functioning: this may be an underestim...

Unlike health settings, intermediaries have no standard approach to assessments for justice system purposes. It depends on the intermediary, the requirements of the case and the capabilities of the witness. The intermediary may conclude that the witness simply does not have the ability to give evidence, even with assistance. Assessment is not alway...

An intermediary sometimes assists a vulnerable person called to court as a prosecution witness; that person can appear in a different case as a defendant, without intermediary help. As intermediaries observe, only the side of the fence has changed, not the person’s communication needs. The overriding objective in Criminal Procedure Rule 1 (2015), ‘...

Intermediaries have emerged as a new professional identity: there is surely potential now for a distinct professional qualification. (In South Africa, the Institute of Child Witness Research and Training plans to launch a university-level National Diploma for Intermediaries in 2015: communication from Karen Muller, November 2014.) Management struct...

Picture this. A police officer is attempting to interview a three-year-old girl to see whether any offence has been committed against her. The person sitting alongside the officer and the child is an intermediary, an independent communication specialist. In an assessment session, the intermediary explores the child’s level of communication. The chi...

Courtrooms are traditional, deferential places in which everyone knows their place in the hierarchy and jealously guards their professional space. The intrusion of an outsider can be regarded with suspicion. We saw an example of this during our evaluation of real-time computer-aided transcription (Plotnikoff and Woolfson, 1993). As the judge, lawye...

Intermediaries have helped open the floodgates of change. They provide access to justice to witnesses who were previously excluded and contribute to the fairness of the trial process for both vulnerable witnesses and vulnerable defendants. In a raft of creative ways, intermediaries facilitate ‘best evidence’. When necessary, they take on a coordina...

Ground rules hearings are now a requirement in intermediary cases. They must also be held where ‘directions for appropriate treatment and questioning’ are necessary, even if the case does not involve an intermediary (Criminal Procedure Rule 3.9(7), 2015; Criminal Practice Directions 3E.2, 3E.3, 2015; toolkit 1 and checklist, Ground rules hearings a...

No guidance specifies precisely how intermediaries are expected to fulfil their responsibilities at trial. This is a matter to be worked out with the judiciary on a case-by-case basis. The intermediary’s overarching obligation is to help improve the quality of the witness’s evidence. Intermediaries monitor communication and must intervene only to s...

This is the first book about the intermediary scheme, criminal justice's untold 'good news story'. It provides a comprehensive explanation of how intermediaries work in practice and gives 'behind the scenes' insights into the criminal process. It will be of interest to practitioners and the wider public.

In preparation for trial, courts are expected to take ‘every reasonable step’ to facilitate the participation of a witness or defendant, including giving directions for the appropriate treatment of the person, especially in intermediary cases (Criminal Procedure Rules 3.9(3)(b) and 3.9(6), 2015; Criminal Practice Direction 3D2, 2015). Intermediarie...

Best practice in delivering commitments to young witnesses in England and Wales is superb. In several respects, it has improved markedly since 2009, when the NSPCC and Nuffield Foundation published ‘Measuring up? Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses’. With careful planning, young witnesses are interviewed by specia...

This is the final report of the evaluation of the Child Sexual Offence Evidence Pilot (the Pilot) in New South Wales, Australia. The aim of the Pilot was to reduce the difficulties and stress for child witnesses in matters involving alleged child sexual offences and to improve the accuracy and quality of their evidence without impinging upon the d...

This short article describes the views of lead judges about the pilots of pre-trial cross-examination for vulnerable witnesses at three Crown Courts (section 28, Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999). This special measure is to be rolled out late in 2017.

In 2004, the NSPCC and Victim Support report In their own words described the experiences of 50 young witnesses. It concluded that: “Despite a network of policies and procedures intended to facilitate children’s evidence, only a handful of young witnesses... gave evidence in anything approaching the optimum circumstances. Their experiences revealed...

Inadequate Mechanisms for Recording and Passing on Information Before the TrialPoor Communication with the CourtThe Lack of Consistency in the Exercise of Judlclal DiscretionThe Presence of a Supporter When the Child Gives EvidenceWho Is Responsible for Children's Welfare While they are Giving Evidence?Judicial TrainingThe FutureReferences

The intermediary special measure is designed to facilitate communication with certain categories of vulnerable witness at investigative interview and trial. This article presents findings from an evaluation in pathfinder areas. It describes benefits emerging from the use of intermediaries at trial. It also highlights a range of obstacles to be over...

Research, Development and Statistics exists to improve policy making, decision taking and practice in support of the Ministry of Justice purpose and aims to provide the public and Parliament with information necessary for informed debate and to publish information for future use.

The Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 made available a range of special measures to help vulnerable and intimidated witnesses give their best evidence. These include giving evidence by TV link or being screened from the defendant in court; video-recorded evidence-in-chief; removal of wigs and gowns; clearing the public gallery; and aids...

"REVOLUTION IN THE COURTS" proclaimed the banner headline in the London Evening Standard, an indication of the high level of public interest in a report proposing court and procedural reform in England. The Dickensian image of the English law courts has never faded: It is a commonly held view that the legal system is archaic, slow, and out of reach...

This paper examines the background to pre-trial enquiries, their preparation and some of the problems involved, with particular reference to not guilty pleas. It is based on a dissertation presented for the Diploma in Social and Administrative Studies in 1972 and a more detailed version is available

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors, not necessarily those of the Home Office (nor do they reflect Government policy).