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The Wider Context-1

INTERMEDIARIES Gillian Harrison Head of Court Procedures and Evidence Section Better Trials Unit, OCJR 4 th Annual Vulnerable and Intimidated Witnesses Conference 31 October 2007. The Wider Context-1. Code of Practice for Victims of Crime

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The Wider Context-1

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  1. INTERMEDIARIES Gillian HarrisonHead of Court Procedures and Evidence SectionBetter Trials Unit, OCJR 4th Annual Vulnerable and Intimidated Witnesses Conference 31 October 2007

  2. The Wider Context-1 • Code of Practice for Victims of Crime • Sets out statutory rights for victims for the first time • Vulnerable and intimidated witnesses eligible for an enhanced service from CPS, • police and HM Courts Service • Police have responsibility to: • - identify victims as vulnerable and intimidated • - must ensure that information is passed as necessary to other organisations • with Code responsibilities

  3. The wider context - 2 • Disability Discrimination Act 1995 • Public sector duty to promote disability equality – includes • taking steps to meet the needs of those with disabilities • making reasonable adjustments to the service

  4. Special measures • Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 • Video recorded evidence in chief • Evidence by live link • Screens round the witness box • Giving evidence in private • Intermediaries- give a voice to vulnerable witnesses • Communication aids

  5. What is an Intermediary? • “The function of an intermediary is to communicate • To the witness, questions put to the witness, and • To any person asking such questions, the answers given by the witness in reply to them, • And to explain such questions or answers as far as is necessary to enable them to be understood by the witnesses or person in question” • [s29 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999]

  6. What an Intermediary does • Helps vulnerable witnesses and criminal justice practitioners at every stage of criminal proceedings from investigation to trial. • Carries out initial assessment of witness’s communication needs • Provides advice (including a written report) to help achieve more productive interview or get best evidence at trial • - types of questions to avoid • - need for regular breaks etc • Directly assists in the communication process • Assists with pre-trial preparation

  7. What an Intermediary doesn’t do • Functions • protect the witness from distressing questions • change the substance of the evidence • act for the prosecution or defence (responsible to court) • Roles • They are not: • an interpreter (foreign language, BSL etc) • an investigator or advocate • an Appropriate Adult • a witness supporter

  8. Who can get help from an Intermediary? • available to vulnerable witnesses under s16 of the 1999 Act i.e. anyone: • Under 17 years of age • Who’s quality of evidence affected by: mental disorder or impairment of intelligence and social functioning or physical disability/disorder • available for both prosecution and defence witnesses • court must decide that assistance with communication and/or understanding will improve/maximise witness’s quality of evidence – if so makes Special Measures Direction • approval can be retrospective

  9. Project Overview 1 • 6 original pathfinder areas: Merseyside, West Midlands, Thames Valley, Norfolk, South Wales, Devon & Cornwall, • 2 additional areas from April 2007: Derbyshire and Leicestershire • Final independent evaluation report published June 2007 • - found that practitioners considered half of trial cases would not have got to court without an intermediary

  10. Project Overview 2Phased national roll out agreedPhase 1- November- December 2007 - Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and WarwickshirePhase 2 – full roll out completed by April 2008100 Registered intermediaries- rising to 140 Almost 900 vulnerable people assisted since 2004

  11. Project Overview 3 • Central intermediary matching service provided by OCJR during roll out • To be outsourced in due course • Central funding of pathfinder phase by OCJR • During national roll out- central funding for 12 months • Costs to be met locally thereafter

  12. Key messages • Evaluation has shown that intermediaries : • Help improve practitioner decision making/trial planning • Make investigative interviews and court testimony more accurate, complete and coherent • Help increase access to justice for the most vulnerable people in society by helping to bring cases to court which never would have got there before • Help ensure that all victims and witnesses are confident in the CJS • Help to bring more offenders to justice

  13. Challenges • Early identification of vulnerable or intimidated witnesses • Using intermediaries during investigation to help assess capability of witnesses • Planning ahead- for interview and trial • Communication about witnesses’ needs to CJS agencies involved

  14. OCJR CONTACTS • Project Delivery Unit- Intermediaries Team • Louise Selby Lucienne Edge • Project Manager Intermediary matching service • 020 7035 8476 020 7035 8461 • louise.selby@cjs.gsi.gov.uk lucienne.edge@cjs.gsi.gov.uk • Better Trials Unit - Policy on special measures • Stephen Underwood • 020 7035 8474 • stephen.underwood@cjs.gsi.gov.uk

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