Charity says justice system still failing children
6 Aug 08
Children 1st claims Vulnerable Witnesses Act not achieving objectives
A leading children’s charity has accused the Scottish judicial system of continuing to fail vulnerable children.
Children 1st was responding to a government report which outlines major gaps in the implementation of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004, designed to improve children’s experiences of court.
Under the Act, child witnesses have the right to certain special measures, which make giving evidence easier and less traumatic. These include such as using a screen or giving evidence by CCTV.
The evaluation report, entitled Turning Up the Volume: The Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004, showed that uptake of these measures is increasing, but that improvements are still needed. For example there were no cases where remote CCTV was successfully used during the evaluation period from November 2005-April 2007.
It also found that many children continue to be treated poorly, with some experiencing long delays before a case came to court, receiving little information or support before giving evidence, and coming face to face with the accused in court.
Missing notices
In addition, the mandatory child witness notice - which states whether the child witness wants to use special measures - had not been placed before the court for around half of the children giving evidence in court.
Children 1st chief executive, Anne Houston said: “This report shows that three years on from the Act first being introduced, there are still serious gaps in its implementation.
“Children continue to be traumatised by their experience of giving evidence in court, with many not even aware of the measures available to help them. We call on all those involved in the judicial system, and in the government, to do more to bring about real change.
"At the very least, it is time for everyone to make sure that a child witness notice is placed for every child witness in every court - this is a straightforward step that is required by law."
She also criticised gaps in statistical information revealed by the report. “Without proper collection of statistics around child witnesses, how can we get an accurate picture to make sure resources and efforts are correctly targeted in the future? The gaps in data collection need to be addressed urgently.”
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the government was committed to ensuring that all vulnerable witnesses received the support they needed to give their best evidence.
The evaluation report and summary are available on the Scottish Government website at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/07/25160257/0 .