Justice Committee calls for "more ambitious" child evidence law
Scottish Government proposals for children and vulnerable witnesses to give pre-recorded evidence in criminal trials should be "more ambitious", Holyrood’s Justice Committee said today.
While supporting the general principles of the Vulnerable Witnesses (Criminal Evidence) (Scotland) Bill in its stage 1 report, the committee calls on the Government to go further than it has so far proposed, and fully adopt the Scandinavian "Barnahus" – or children’s house – principles.
The bill aims to reduce the stress and trauma of being involved with the legal system for vulnerable victims and witnesses of crime, with an initial focus on children, through pre-recording evidence by specialist interviewers. It would introduce a rule, applying to child witnesses in the most serious cases, which would generally require all of the child's evidence to be given in advance of the trial. The committee however, which visited the Barnahus in Oslo during its scrutiny of the bill, believes that other elements such as child-friendly design and "under one roof" welfare and wellbeing support should also be implemented.
The committee accepts the phased introduction of pre-recording, given the significant costs involved, and its extension to other serious offences and/or adult vulnerable witnesses by regulations. However, it states that it is important that there is an opportunity for sufficient parliamentary scrutiny to ensure that any such extension will deliver benefits for witnesses in practice, whilst still protecting the rights of the accused. There should also be safeguards against inappropriate questioning, and proper provision for support of witnesses.
The case for implementation of the Barnahus model is "compelling", the report states, though it continues: "Whilst the bill's aim of increasing the use of pre-recorded evidence is to be welcomed, it is clear that a Barnahus model remains a considerable distance from where things currently stand in Scotland. The Committee therefore recommends that urgent action be taken to adopt elements of the Barnahus principles, whilst continuing to work towards adapting the 'one forensic interview' approach for Scotland.
"In the Committee’s view, priority should be given to developing an enhanced joint investigative interview process, conducted by highly-trained interviewers in child-friendly facilities with other services to support children and families available 'under one roof'. Should the case be prosecuted, any further questioning of the child for the purposes of the trial should be pre-recorded within the same facility. This would deliver significant benefits for child witnesses and be a meaningful step forward in implementing the Barnahus principles."
Its MSPs heard concerns from the Scottish Government about introducing the Barnahus principle into the Scottish legal system, due to its adversarial nature, but report that the Barnahus has been adapted to a number of different countries' unique legal systems, including some with adversarial traditions, and they do not consider this challenge would be an insurmountable barrier.
The committee also found that the bill should:
- be extended to include child witnesses in High Court and sheriff and jury domestic abuse cases in the first tranche of those eligible for the new measures;
- ensure all professionals involved in questioning child and vulnerable witnesses receive appropriate, trauma-informed training;
- aim to pre-record evidence as close to the alleged offence as possible, which should improve recall of the events in question, as well as allowing the witness or victim to start moving on sooner.
Committee convener Margaret Mitchell MSP commented: "Events that precede a child becoming either a witness or possibly the victim in a criminal trial are likely to have been distressing in themselves.
"Efforts to reduce the subsequent stress and trauma that can be exacerbated by the legal process are strongly supported by the committee.
"However, we also believe the changes could be more ambitious. The committee is calling for the Barnahus principle to be fully introduced so that young people receive wraparound support through the whole legal and recovery process."