Special Measures in Rape Trials: Exploring the Impact of Screens, Live Links and Video-Recorded Evidence on Mock Juror Deliberation

In England and Wales, in accordance with the adversarial principle of orality, witnesses in criminal proceedings are generally required to give evidence ‘live’ in open court. It is, nevertheless, now widely accepted that this obligation can place onerous demands on witnesses and militates against receipt of the best evidence potentially available in some cases. For victims of rape, the process of testifying can be a particularly harrowing ordeal, given the intimate nature of the offence and the consequent need to recount explicit sexual details in a public arena in the presence of an alleged assailant. Indeed, some rape complainants have described their experiences in court as being tantamount to a ‘second assault’ (Lees, 1996; Victim Support, 1996). The special measures provisions of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 were introduced to ameliorate this situation by granting adult sexual offence complainants (and other eligible adult witnesses) the use of alternative – more ‘witness friendly’trial arrangements, in situations where courts are satisfied that this would maximise the quality of a witness’s testimony. Previously reserved for child witnesses, these modifying measures include the use of live television links to allow a witness to give evidence from a room remote from the main courtroom in a comparatively informal, relaxed environment (while remaining visible and audible to those present in the courtroom), the admission of video recordings of pre-trial witness interviews in place of examinationin-chief at trial, and where witnesses give evidence in the courtroom – the erection of temporary screens around the witness box to shield witnesses from the potentially intimidating gaze of the defendant.