AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
By Jon White
6 May 2018
The recent article (‘Ineffective’ system sees sexually abused children re-traumatised) has shone a light on a persistent issue in the criminal justice system: how children give evidence.
It is now well accepted in our legal system that the evidence of children is not inherently less reliable than the evidence of adults. Indeed a case I recently took to the High Court, The Queen v GW, was an important development in that area.
The High Court held that unsworn evidence (which generally means evidence given by children) is not any less reliable than sworn evidence.
There have been some significant advances for children giving evidence in the ACT, which is in fact ahead of most Australian jurisdictions. Child witnesses in serious offences (including of course child complainants in sexual offence cases) are interviewed by trained police officers and this interview becomes their “evidence in chief” in court proceedings.
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