Govt considers national guidelines on child witnesses

Simon Power said the Govt needed to minimise the amount of time children spent in the court process. File photo / Richard Robinson

The Government will consider a report on child witnesses in criminal courts which identified concerns about the implementation of systems to protect the children, Justice Minister Simon Power says.

Auckland University of Technology's Institute of Public Policy today launched its Child Witnesses in the New Zealand Criminal Courts report.

Recommendations in the report included the development of national guidelines in relation to child witnesses and parts of the Evidence Act 2006 be amended and strengthened.

Mr Power said the report raised concerns about the specialist practices used to accommodate the needs of child witnesses.

The Government needed to look at ways to minimise the amount of time children spent in the criminal justice system, especially in the court process, he said.

"Child complainants and witnesses are particularly vulnerable to the adversarial nature of our criminal justice system, especially when it comes to giving evidence."

The Ministry of Justice was looking at operational changes that could be made under existing law and policy and to resolve regional variation of practices and officials would work with government agencies to develop best-practice guidelines.

"I have already asked the Law Commission to look into inquisitorial justice systems and I will be in Europe in June to look at inquisitorial models and meet specialists on the treatment of child witnesses."

New Zealand may be able to learn from the way other jurisdictions treat child witnesses, Mr Power said.

Barnardos New Zealand chief executive Niamh Lawless said changes to law were needed to ensure child witnesses could give evidence safely and with support.

Barnardos supported the recommendations in the report.

"Among the issues needing to be addressed is the inconsistent implementation of the law, delays in awaiting trials, inappropriate questioning in court, and children being cross-examined in ways that are forensically unsafe.

"We need to ensure children who are victims or witnesses to crime must be able to testify in a safe and timely manner," Ms Lawless said.

Children need to be protected and their interests and needs must be a primary consideration throughout court processes, she said.

- NZPA