The Scottish Government

Next »

Listen

Patsy Richards, Sue Morris & Eddie Richards
MorrisRichards Ltd
Scottish Government Social Research 2008

ISSN 0950 2254
ISBN 978 0 7559 7180 0 (Web only publication)

This document is also available in pdf format (1.1Mb)

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements and Abbreviations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Act
The Act's phased roll out and the research period
Summary of research
Proceedings at courts
Monitoring the Act
Views of professionals
Views of vulnerable witnesses
Overall themes

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION TO THE EVALUATION
Background
Research period in relation to implementation
The evaluation
Evaluation approach and research methods
Associated research
Report structure

CHAPTER TWO BACKGROUND
Introduction
International context
Scottish research and policy on victims and witnesses
The Vulnerable Witnesses Act
Memorandum to the Bill; financial implications
Other reforms to the Scottish justice system
SE guidance
Legislation, practice and evaluation in England and Wales
Summary

CHAPTER THREE PROCEEDINGS AT COURTS
Introduction
Sources of information
Numbers of cases covered by the research
Witnesses cited at the High Court
Witnesses cited at the study sheriff courts
Patterns in SMs by location; High Court and sheriff courts
Characteristics of cases without applications or CWNs; High Court and sheriff courts
Applications refused and witness choice; High Court and sheriff courts
Under 12 year olds
Attempts to form an adult baseline
Attempts to assess applications in referrals to the sheriff
Summary

CHAPTER FOUR A MONITORING FRAMEWORK FOR THE ACT
Introduction
Background
ISCJIS
Commitments to monitoring and evaluation
Attempts to develop a monitoring system for the VWA
Data provided by SCS to the researchers
Data provided by COPFS to the researchers
Other possible data sources explored by the researchers
Summary

CHAPTER FIVE THE AGENCY PERSPECTIVES
Introduction
Interviews with professionals - summary
Areas of concern
Implementation of the Act
Identification of vulnerable witnesses
Information
Pre-trial support
Choosing SMs
The special measures
Witness treatment overall and afterwards
Summary

CHAPTER SIX THE WITNESS PERSPECTIVE
Introduction
Commencement arrangements and their implications
Interview strategy
Results; witness perceptions and main concerns
Experiences at court
After court
Experiences of witnesses in waiting areas
Summary of witness survey results for VWO pilots
Summary

CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSIONS AND MAIN POINTS
Introduction
Main findings
Conclusions

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANNEX 1 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LORD ADVOCATE'S WORKING GROUP ON CHILD WITNESSES

ANNEX 2 EVALUATION DESIGN AND METHODS
The specification
Evaluation design
Sampling
High Court
Sheriff Courts
Referrals to the sheriff from Children's Hearings
Important assumptions made during data collection and analysis
The interview study
Identification of vulnerable witnesses for interview
Conduct of interviews
Desk - based work

ANNEX 3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
Data collection fields used at courts
Research summaries for witnesses and children

ANNEX 4 RESEARCH ADVISORY GROUP MEMBERS

ANNEX 5 THE VULNERABLE WITNESSES (SCOTLAND) BILL'S PROCEEDINGS

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 3.1 Indictments sampled by the research
Table 3.2 Cases identified involving vulnerable witnesses, by High Court location
Table 3.3 Average number of vulnerable witnesses cited per case with VWs in the High Court
Table 3.4 High Court summary; witnesses identified by the research
Table 3.5 Vulnerable witness applications by the Crown in the High Court
Figure 3.1 Vulnerable witness applications by the Crown in the High Court
Table 3.6 Vulnerable witness applications by the defence in the High Court
Figure 3.2 Age of vulnerable adult witnesses identified in the High Court
Table 3.7 Characteristics of child witnesses identified in the High Court
Table 3.8 Specialist reports accompanying SM applications in the High Court
Table 3.9 Special measures sought in the High Court
Table 3.10 Special measures and arrangements used giving evidence in the High Court
Table 3.11 Special measures used in the High Court (% of those who gave evidence)
Table 3.12 Identity of supporters in the High Court
Table 3.13 Child witnesses cited during the baseline period in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.14 Child witnesses cited during child year 1 in the sheriff courts
Table 3.15 Child witnesses cited during child year 2 in the sheriff courts
Table 3.16 VW applications in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.17 Vulnerable witness applications by the Crown in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.18 Vulnerable witness applications by the defence in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.19 Specialist reports submitted in the study sheriff courts
Figure 3.3 Ages of adult vulnerable witnesses identified in the sheriff courts
Table 3.20 Special measures and arrangements sought in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.21 SMs and arrangements used giving evidence in the study sheriff courts
Table 3.22 Special measures used, study sheriff courts (% of those who gave evidence)
Table 3.23 Special measures requested, entire study period, by study sheriff court
Table 3.24 Special measures requested, entire study period, by study sheriff court (%)
Table 3.25 Special measures requested by study sheriff courts, child year 2
Table 3.26 Special measures requested by High Court location
Table 3.27 Trends in special measures requests at the permanent High Court locations
Table 3.28 Characteristics of children with and without applications; High Court
Table 3.29 Characteristics of children with and without applications; sheriff courts
Table 3.30 Applications refused; High Court and study sheriff courts
Figure 3.4 Ages of the under 12s cited in the High Court and study sheriff courts
Table 3.31 Under 12s cited and who gave evidence; High Court and study sheriff courts
Table 3.32 Special measures applications by the reporter
Table 4.1 The researchers' understanding of the state of readiness by May 2006
Table 4.2 The SE's table of the monitoring framework agreed
Table 4.3 SCS records of defence SM applications nationally, Oct 2006-Mar 2007
Table 4.4 SCS records of reporter SM applications nationally, Oct 2006-Mar 2007
Table 5.1 Professionals interviewed
Case study 1
Case study 2
Table 6.1 Witnesses interviewed

The views expressed in this report are those of the researcher and
do not necessarily represent those of the Department or Scottish Ministers.

Next »