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six - Contributing to the effectiveness of the police interview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2022

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Summary

It is a police responsibility when planning a witness interview to identify ‘vulnerability’, encompassing communication needs by virtue of age or other factor (see toolkit 10, Identifying vulnerability of witnesses and defendants, www.theadvocatesgateway.org).When someone is recognised as vulnerable, special procedures come into play. Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings: Guidance on interviewing victims and witnesses and guidance on using special measures (Ministry of Justice, 2011a), known as ‘ABE’, governs how the witness should be questioned by an ‘ABE-trained’ interviewer. Failure to observe ABE guidance and the lack of refresher training has been criticised (Criminal Justice Joint Inspection, 2014a; Re M (a child: failure to comply with Achieving Best Evidence) [2014] EWFC B141).

ABE interviews are filmed; the prosecution can apply to the court to play the recording, edited if necessary, as the witness’s evidence-in-chief (Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999, section 27; this special measure is also open to vulnerable defence witnesses but is rarely used). Interviews facilitated by an intermediary are filmed unless the witness objects, as in the intermezzo at the end of the previous chapter. Taking part in a filmed ABE interview does not relieve the witness of all further questioning, although sometimes witnesses mistakenly believe that having made the recording, they will not have to go to court at all. Officers should advise witnesses that the ABE recording is admissible as evidence-in-chief where the witness is available for cross-examination; only in exceptional situations can it be played without calling the witness (Ministry of Justice, 2011a, para 2.12).

The police should request an intermediary where this would help improve the quality of evidence of a vulnerable witness (Ministry of Justice, 2011a, para 2.44, Box 2.1), especially if the witness is of primary school age (Criminal Practice Direction 3F.3, 2015; Association of Chief Police Officers et al, 2015, para 4.4).The intermediary is independent, not part of the police or prosecution team, and is neither a witness nor joint interviewer. Conduct and management of the interview are police responsibilities. Officers in police specialist units should be trained in working with an intermediary (Ministry of Justice, 2011a, para 1.30) but intermediaries suggest that there are still parts of the country where there is no routine intermediary input to training.

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Chapter
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Intermediaries in the Criminal Justice System
Improving Communication for Vulnerable Witnesses and Defendants
, pp. 75 - 96
Publisher: Bristol University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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