'It's the judicial equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul'—The implementation gap in section 28 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

Vanessa E Munro; S Weare; Lorna O'Doherty; Grace J Carter; L Hudspith; E Sleath; Sarah J Brown; M Cutland; C Perot

doi:10.1177/13657127241259800

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'It's the judicial equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul'—The implementation gap in section 28 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

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'It's the judicial equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul'—The implementation gap in section 28 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

Vanessa E Munro, S Weare, Lorna O'Doherty, Grace J Carter, L Hudspith, E Sleath, Sarah J Brown, M Cutland and C Perot

The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, Vol.29(2), pp.117-139

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13657127241259800

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Abstract

Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999

section 28

pre-recorded cross-examination

sexual offences

vulnerable and intimidated witnesses

Section 28, the last of the special measures under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 to be implemented, was rolled out across England and Wales between 2020 and 2022. This allows vulnerable and/or intimidated witnesses and complainants, who have first pre-recorded their evidence-in-chief through a police video-recorded interview, to pre-record their cross-examination, which is then presented to the court during the substantive trial. This article critically explores s. 28 by drawing upon qualitative data from 108 semi-structured interviews conducted with participants across seven stakeholder groups, including criminal justice practitioners, and complainants and their families in sexual offences cases. Through a critical consideration of the articulated benefits associated with s. 28 within the context of sexual offences cases, we argue that there continue to be substantial challenges associated with its implementation that reduce its prospects for success, and which need to be addressed as a priority.

Details

Title: 'It's the judicial equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul'—The implementation gap in section 28 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999
Authors: Vanessa E Munro (Corresponding Author) - University of Warwick
S Weare - Lancaster University
Lorna O'Doherty - Coventry University
Grace J Carter - Coventry University
L Hudspith - Lancaster University
E Sleath - University of Leicester
Sarah J Brown - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Law and Criminology - Legacy
M Cutland - University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
C Perot - Survivors' Voice
Publication details: The International Journal of Evidence & Proof, Vol.29(2), pp.117-139
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1177/13657127241259800
ISSN: 1740-5572; 1365-7127
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Grant note: This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/V016202/1).
Organisation Unit: Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit; School of Law and Criminology - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991034898502621
Output Type: Journal article

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