Measuring up? Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses in criminal proceedings

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Measuring up?

Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses in criminal proceedings

By Joyce Plotnikoff and Richard Woolfson (July 2009)

A study by the NSPCC in partnership with the Nuffield Foundation

Measuring up? Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses in criminal proceedings (PDF, 1.18MB) follows on from an earlier report by the same authors on the experiences of 50 young witnesses, which demonstrated that at that time, reforms were urgently needed to improve the way young people are treated when giving evidence in court.

In their own words (NSPCC, 2004) concluded that “Despite a network of policies and procedures intended to facilitate children’s evidence, only a handful of young witnesses… gave evidence in anything approaching the optimum circumstances. Their experiences revealed a chasm - an implementation gap - between policy objectives and actual delivery around the country.”

Since 2004, a wide range of government commitments has been issued or updated, aiming to better support young witnesses and enabling them to give their best evidence. This much improved legislative framework should lessen the ordeal that giving evidence inevitably is for any person, particularly children.

Measuring up? considers whether the “implementation gap” between policy and practice has narrowed. It is based on a much larger sample of 182 young witnesses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, aged between five and 19, who were interviewed, along with most of their parents, between May 2007 and October 2008.

Information was also gathered from the managers of 52 Witness Services, seven young witness support schemes, and from each organisation that referred a young witness to the research project.

The study compares recent government policies and guidance with children’s experiences before, during and after trial to evaluate:

how well criminal justice organisations identify young witness needs
whether support for young witnesses is made available consistently and appropriately
the treatment of young witnesses by the criminal justice system
the experiences of young witnesses in the context of the desired Every Child Matters outcomes of “being healthy” and “staying safe” (in terms of the risk of secondary abuse from the court process) and “making a positive contribution” (in terms of the requirement to perform a public service).

Executive summary

Measuring up? Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses in criminal proceedings (executive summary) (PDF, 299KB)

Full report

Measuring up? Evaluating implementation of Government commitments to young witnesses in criminal proceedings (PDF, 1.18MB)

Practice guidance

Good practice guidance in managing young witness cases and questioning children (PDF, 160KB)
Messages emerging from the research. Good practice guidance for law practitioners and others who work with young witnesses both before and during trial.

CD-ROM

Giving young witnesses a voice: experiences of young witnesses in criminal trials
Feedback for the judiciary, criminal justice system personnel and witness supporters, and advice for young witnesses waiting to go to court. A disk of recordings made by young witnesses in the study can be requested for training purposes. For further information contact NSPCC Publications .