Special Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses: Use, Effectiveness, and Improvement

最近，利用特别措施（即1999年《青年司法和刑事证据法》引入的条款）来支持脆弱的证人在法庭上提供证据的情况急剧增加。在整个法律程序中使用特别措施的最佳做法，例如通过法庭外的电视直播提供证据（第24条），审判前预先记录首席审查官（第27条）和交叉询问（第28条），以及使用中间人（即促进证人和从业人员之间沟通的中立专家[通常是言语和语言治疗师]，第29条），是非常有前途的法律干预措施。但是，没有对特别措施的使用进行集中监测，也没有对这些措施在支助易受伤害证人方面的效力进行大规模的定量和系统的评估。事实上，现有的关于特别措施有效性的调查结果（主要是有效性有限的阶段性实验）好坏参半，由于担心陪审员将无法正确评估证人的可信度，被告的权利将得不到充分保护，对这些措施的实施仍然存在相当大的阻力。因此，拟议的研究旨在调查目前对易受伤害的证人，特别是儿童所采取的特别措施的使用和有效性，并查明如何通过采用多种方法和了解心理情况的办法加以改进。第一阶段包括调查从业人员（即法官、律师、中间人、警察），了解他们对特别措施的看法和经验，以及他们对可以在哪些方面作出改进的意见。第二阶段是实地研究，其中将进行系统的笔录分析，通过法医面谈和（或）法庭询问，从第一次评估开始调查中间人参与脆弱证人的使用和有效性。采访者的问题和儿童的回答将被分析，并与没有提供中介参与的类似弱势儿童的对照组进行比较。最后阶段是一系列模拟法庭研究，将测试特殊措施的潜在生理假设（例如，降低陪审员的情绪唤起），以及目前与可能影响决策的特殊措施相关的一些实际问题（例如，降低陪审员的注意力）。这些研究还试图测试技术操作（例如，更大的屏幕，更好的音频）在对抗生理和实际问题（例如，增加陪审员的情绪唤醒/注意力）方面的有效性。总的来说，预期特别措施在按照最佳做法使用时将促进儿童与警察/律师之间的沟通，但外来因素（例如，对程序的态度、未遵守最佳做法标准）将妨碍特别措施完全有效。因此，本项目进一步寻求对法律从业人员在处理易受伤害证人时可以继续制定和实施心理知情的最佳做法的过程进行理论理解。这项研究的结果是，关于如何最大限度地发挥特别措施效力的循证指导可用于推进后续从业人员培训实践并为法律政策提供信息。从业人员、法律专家和世界领先的学者将主要通过参与咨询委员会、数据收集方法和传播活动，参与项目的各个阶段。这种对项目解释的合作参与不仅将丰富研究，而且将确保提案对广泛的国际政策和实践产生有意义和重要的影响。

The use of special measures (i.e., provisions introduced by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999) to support vulnerable witnesses giving evidence in court has recently increased dramatically. Best-practice use of special measures, such as giving evidence via a TV live- link from outside the court (S.24), pre-recording of examination-in-chief (S.27) and cross-examination (S.28) before trial, and using intermediaries (i.e., neutral specialists [often speech and language therapists] that facilitate communication between witnesses and practitioners, S.29) throughout the legal process are incredibly promising legal interventions. However, the use of special measures is not centrally monitored and their effectiveness in supporting vulnerable witnesses has not been quantitatively nor systematically assessed on a large scale. Indeed, existing findings (primarily staged experiments with limited validity) on the effectiveness of special measures are mixed, and there remains considerable resistance to their implementation due to concerns that jurors will not be able to properly evaluate witnesses' credibility and defendants' rights will not be adequately protected. The proposed research is therefore designed to investigate the use and effectiveness of current special measures used with vulnerable witnesses, specifically children, as well as to identify how improvements can be made, by adopting a multi-method, psychologically-informed approach. The first phase involves surveying practitioners (i.e., judges, lawyers, intermediaries, police) about their beliefs of and experiences with special measures, as well as their opinions about where improvements could be made. The second phase is field research, wherein systematic transcript analyses will take place, investigating the use and effectiveness of intermediary involvement with vulnerable witnesses from first assessments, through forensic interviews and/or courtroom questioning. Interviewers' questions and children's responses will be analysed and compared with control groups of similarly vulnerable children who were not afforded intermediary involvement. The final phase is a series of mock courtroom studies that will test both underlying physiological assumptions of special measures (e.g., lowered juror emotional arousal), as well as some of the current practical concerns associated with special measures (e.g., lowered juror attentiveness) that may affect decision-making. These studies also seek to test the effectiveness of technological manipulations (e.g., larger screens, better audio) to combat physiological and practical concerns (e.g., to increase juror emotional arousal/attentiveness). Overall, it is expected that special measures will facilitate communication between children and police/lawyers when used in line with best-practice, but that extraneous factors (e.g., attitudes towards procedures, failure to adhere to best-practice standards) will prevent special measures from being wholly effective. As such, this project further seeks to develop a theoretical understanding of the processes through which legal practitioners can continue to develop and implement psychologically informed best-practice approaches when dealing with vulnerable witnesses. As a result of this research, evidence-based guidance on how to maximise the effectiveness of special measures can be used to advance subsequent practitioner training practices and inform legal policy. Practitioners, legal experts, and world-leading academics will be involved in all phases of the project, primarily through participation on the advisory board, data collection methods, and dissemination activities. This collaborative participation in the projects' interpretation will not only enrich the research, but will ensure that the proposal will have meaningful and important effects on wide-reaching international policies and practices.