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Achieving Best Evidence for Vulnerable Witnesses: The Use of Trauma-Informed Theory to Reform the Sexual Assault Trial

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Closing the Justice Gap for Adult and Child Sexual Assault

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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to consider measures to transform the adversarial trial process into a trauma-informed system that recognises the triggers for re-traumatisation within the criminal justice system and the measures needed to eliminate shaming, humiliation and blame of the complainant. In doing so, I will document the environmental trauma triggers that exist within the sexual assault trial and have the potential to undermine a complainant’s ability to give her best evidence. In so doing, I consider the extent to which these triggers can be ameliorated by a system of trauma-informed care.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Insight, SBS Television, 27 February 2018.

  2. 2.

    www.nasmhpd.org/content/national-center-trauma-informed-care-nctic-0; www.nctsn.org/; accessed 6 February 2017.

  3. 3.

    For example, the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team in Victoria (https://www.chiefexaminer.vic.gov.au/content.asp?document_id=36448; accessed 28 June 2020); the Sex Crimes Squad and the Joint Investigation Response Squad in NSW (See https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/crime/sex_crimes/child_abuse) and the Sexual Offences Exploitation and Child Abuse Unit in the London Metropolitan Police.

  4. 4.

    See Application for a Special Measures Direction under the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015, rule 29.3 and 29.10.

  5. 5.

    See www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/citizens-advice-witness-service/about-the-citizens-advice-witness-service/; www.troopers.ny.gov/Crime_Prevention/Violence/Crime_Victims_Specialists.

  6. 6.

    For resources for training staff on the impact of trauma, see Elliott (2003) for non-clinicians and Pilnik and Kendall (2012) for lawyers.

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  1. Honorary Professor and former Professor of Law and Criminology Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Anne Cossins

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Cossins, A. (2020). Achieving Best Evidence for Vulnerable Witnesses: The Use of Trauma-Informed Theory to Reform the Sexual Assault Trial. In: Closing the Justice Gap for Adult and Child Sexual Assault. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-32051-3_11

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