This frees the witnesses from having to testify at trial and allows them to have therapy, if they wish, without fearing their notes might be accessed in the trial, according to the review, ‘Next steps for special measures’.
Currently, this option is available under section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 to victims and witnesses deemed vulnerable, and there has been increased take-up of s 28 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also being piloted for intimidated witnesses at Leeds, Liverpool and Kingston upon Thames Crown Courts.
Dame Vera recommended it be more widely used for both intimidated and vulnerable witnesses and introduced across all Crown Courts as soon as practically possible, especially where trial dates are a long time in the future.
In all, she makes 21 recommendations, including promoting the closure of the public gallery as a special measure to avoid intimidation during evidence, the development of a national protocol for data collection on special measures, and provision of a separate court entrance for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.
Dame Vera found special measures were widely praised but there was an over-complicated system for assessing witnesses’ needs and providing support. Magistrates’ courts tended to lag behind in the use of special measures and she said it was ‘urgent to upgrade facilities and boost the Witness Care Unit resources to ensure parity of witness care with the Crown Court’.
Welcoming the review, Ellie Reeves MP, Shadow Solicitor General, said: ‘With record numbers of rape victims withdrawing from prosecutions, and the court backlog now at over 58,000 cases, many survivors feel the system is working against them, not for them. Giving witness testimony can be extremely upsetting and traumatising.’
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