Evidence of children and vulnerable witnesses: Part 2

Particular  measures for children and vulnerable witnesses: YJCEA 1999 FPR 2010 Pt 3A and ABE guidance

The first article in this series of two dealt with circumstances where particular arrangements might be appropriate for children and vulnerable as witnesses in family proceedings. This article looks at the type of measure which the court can provide for such witnesses; and at how these measures are dealt with in common law and under statutory provision. As mentioned at the end of this article the funding of assessment for and thus the effective operation of such measures is not something the Lord Chancellor and his Ministry of Justice seems fully – or at all? – to have put their minds to.

In Re (D (a minor)) v Camberwell Green Youth Court [2005] UKHL 4 [2005] 1 WLR 393 Lady Hale explained that the existing common law remedies for children and vulnerable witnesses are for the most part summarised and authoritatively set out in Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 ('YJCEA 1999') Pt 2. YJCEA 1999 and its supporting guidance Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal...

Read the full article here.