HMCTS has said that it also reviewed the layout of the courtrooms and the deliberation rooms to plan where Karen and the interpreters would sit and reached out to the British Deaf Association for their advice on how to best support Karen.
In preparing court users, Maria shared best practice and documents from these conversations with HMCTS teams, which HMCTS has said helped develop its first guidance for jurors needing a BSL interpreter, and explained to the jurors that Karen was serving and the guidance. HMCTS provided printed versions in all the deliberation rooms and the jury assembly area, printed interpreter oaths in all courtrooms and sent an email to all staff and judges sharing best practice on how to engage with Karen.
HMCTS has said it will be using Karen’s feedback to form future guidance, will share learnings and best practice with courts scheduled to host deaf jurors and Maria will meet with jury team leaders from across the court system to share her experience.
Source: Preparing our courts to support Deaf jurors
This content was first published by LNB News / Lexis®Library, a LexisNexis® company, on 28 September 2022 and is published with permission. Further information can be found at: www.lexisnexis.co.uk.
