More victims of rape and sexual offences will be spared the stress of being cross-examined in court under a measure rolled out to a further 14 locations this week – including here on the Isle of Wight.
The scheme, which has already been successful in 12 Crown Courts, allows victims and witnesses of crimes such as rape and modern slavery to have their cross-examination video-recorded and played later during trial.
The recording takes place as close to the time of the offence as possible, while memories remain fresh, and helps victims avoid the stress of giving evidence in a courtroom setting, which many find traumatic.
The Ministry of Justice has now introduced the new protection for victims here on the Isle of Wight. Other nearby courts are now also part of the scheme including Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury and Winchester.
The move follows the successful implementation for vulnerable victims, such as children or those who have limited mental capacity, to all Crown Courts in England and Wales – with more than 2,500 witnesses having already benefitted from the technology since August 2020.
Victoria Atkins MP, Minister for Tackling Violence against Women and Girls, said:
“This measure is a key part of our plan to overhaul the justice system’s response to rape – minimising stress for victims and helping them to provide the best possible evidence.
“Alongside this, we’re recruiting more independent sexual violence advisers, launching a new 24/7 helpline and improving collaboration between police and prosecutors to ensure victims get the support and justice they deserve.
Article continues below this advertisement “While there is still much more to do, convictions have increased by 15 percent over the last quarter and these measures will drive improvements further”.
The measure is also designed to maintain a defendant’s right to a fair trial and any decision to pre-record evidence is made by a judge on a case-by-case basis.
And what if the stress suffered by those falsely accused? And any more protections for them?? No, never. Not every one of these cases are justified accusations and nothing is ever done to address those who falsely accuse when those cases are thrown out.
Am all for justice – but not when it’s already treated as a foregone conclusion based on one sides story.
I agree – if an accuser knows that a false accusation will result in the same jail sentence and public shame/humiliation that an actual perpetrator will face, then they will be less likely to make things up.
We need a mechanism in place, that allows the accused to obtain compensation as well, for the authorities believing an accusers word without evidence to support it, when the word of the accused is not believed in the same way.
Someone accuses someone of something – the accused persons time is wasted by the police, their liberty deprived and their reputation shattered all on the word of someone else, without proof.
those voting down – I trust you will still hold the same view, when you are sat in a jail cell, getting ready to face a court on a charge of something that you know you didn’t do, however, the justice system, has chosen to take the word of the accuser, without proof, over your word, which also had no proof. Biased system in favour of the accuser, instead of presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
The authorities don’t just believe their word without evidence and, without any evidence, there would likely be no charge.
Sadly, it relies on people being honest enough not to make a false allegation but their complaint will be investigated as per any other because the authorities are duty-bound to do so with impartiality.
It’s unlikely that an accusation without evidence will get anywhere past initial investigation although, conversely, some allegations WITH evidence still get nowhere..
Referring to someone as a victim prior to a guilty verdict being given, is a presumption of guilt by the courts, the press and the police. It should always be “alleged” victim to ensure that the accused remains in the realm of innocent until actually proven guilty.
those voting down – if you are innocent and the justice system continually refers to the accuser as a victim, then they are presuming your guilt – I trust you will still hold the same view if you are sat in a jail cell for something you didn’t do.(If you did not commit a crime, then the accuser is not a victim – they are a liar)
It’s the time waiting for the rapes to be investigated and the stigma you face with the lies spread by the females that need to be stopped 3 years of misery from the so called victims of rape which eventually are proved false leave the trauma but they get away with perverting the course of justice wasting police time it’s definitely wrong and they should be charged if you have genuinely been raped you deserve justice, Think before you lie and ruin someone’s life,
If we had had more stringent checks on the type and amount of certain newcomers to the UK then many many current victims would not have been so
I said before and I said again, the Island needs to break away from the UK, so it can set up its own checks on who goes there, has more say over itself AND can actually take action to make the island great again. The UKs human rights interfere too much with the Islands justice system. I don’t get why the Mainland thinks its acceptable to dump human scum onto our shores.