Vulnerable victims and witnesses
Cambridgeshire’s one of the first counties in England and Wales to give a voice to vulnerable victims and witnesses caught up in the criminal justice system, through the use of intermediaries.
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Picture supplied courtesy of Voice UK.
An intermediary’s a trained professional who can help someone with impaired communication to understand questions and then communicate their answers.
The intermediary can help vulnerable witnesses at each stage of the criminal justice process, from police investigations and interviews, through pre-trial preparations to trial.
Up till now, cases involving vulnerable witnesses nationwide have often not gone to trial, because gaining enough evidence from them was deemed too difficult.
Anthea Dodson, Head of Criminal Unit at Cambridgeshire Constabulary, hopes the use of intermediaries will improve justice for vulnerable witnesses.
She said: “We can give people a voice that haven’t had a voice up till now.”
Mrs Dodson's spearheading the intermediary scheme in Cambridgeshire, which has been in use throughout the county since late last year.
It's been successfully trialled across half a dozen pilot counties in England and Wales since February 2004 and is due to be rolled out nationally later this year.
Improving justice: a case study
Andrea Middleton's a witness intermediary based in East Anglia, specialising in cases involving children and young people aged up to 18.
A practising speech and language therapist, Ms Middleton says it’s often easy for vulnerable people to slip through the cracks because their impairments aren’t easy to detect.
“The disability may be very subtle. It would be easy to miss that until too late. Up till now they haven’t had access to justice.”
Ms Middleton works throughout the East Anglia region, including Cambridgeshire.
One of her clients was a mildly autistic assault victim who had no physical disabilities and was therefore hard to identify as a vulnerable witness. Because the boy’s parents were aware a pilot intermediary scheme was operating in their area at the time, they were able to ask for assistance.
Throughout the trial, the witness gave evidence from a live link room but became distressed by a water cooler and Venetian blinds. As Ms Middleton’s trained in dealing with autism, she was able to recognise the symptoms and alleviated the boy’s distress by slightly changing the layout of the room.
“He was then able to give his evidence very well.”
Identifying vulnerable witnesses
Ms Middleton said as many as one in six children are affected by some form of communication impairment at some point in their childhoods. The impairment can be very subtle and hard to pick up.
She recommends that people working with young witnesses ask their parents or carers if they’ve ever been on a special needs register at school or have a statement of special educational needs, as these factors may indicate an intermediary is needed.
Even the most severely disabled witnesses can usually be matched to intermediaries, who are specially trained to communicate with them in a variety of ways.
If you or someone you know think an intermediary is needed contact Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 0845 456 456 4 and ask for the Action for Justice Unit.