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The scope of the themes
Introduction
The CURE project starts out from the overarching goal to establish to which degree there is a concern for the child victim in the criminal justice systems of the European Union. The next step is to find out which expressions this concern has taken in various member states. With reference to both of these steps, the objective is to raise awareness on the position of the child victim but also the responses of the judicial systems to the predicament of the child victim.
The focus in the CURE project are the four themes which have been established in order to reach tangible results and in respect of the great number of member states, the various legal traditions and the great variety of procedures to deal with child victims in the criminal justice procedure. The themes will be applied in respect of both of the two studies of the CURE project: the study of the legal position of the child victim as well as on the study on good practices developed to assist the child victim in the criminal justice procedure.
Why themes?
The position taken to restrict the scope of the project by means of these themes should be seen in view of the fact that as compared to other groups of crime victims, the attention for the child victims is relatively great. On the other hand, an investigation of an alleged crime directed towards a child very often involves a number of difficult matters. For these reasons the acquisition of reliable evidence is generally more difficult when a child is subject to crime than in other cases and there are many considerations to make during investigation as well as in court which may prove complex.
The point of departure of the issues below is the objective established in the UN Guidelines on Justice in Matters involving Child Victims and Witnesses to protect the child from hardship during the justice process. Although the main principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are fundamental as a whole in the CURE project but with regard to the themes, specific regard has been taken to the principle of participation of the child.
Under development
The starting point of the CURE project is the themes as developed below. To a great extent the main issues coincide with the questions in the questionnaire directed to ministries of justice. The main ideas will not be subject to changes but it is to be observed that the direction and scope of the themes may be expanded during the course of the project, given input from various sources and that at this initial stage of the project, they should be seen as being under development.
1. Information
This theme relates to one of the most fundamental of crime victims’ rights, namely the legal right to be promptly and adequately informed. There are three sub-themes:
• whether information has to be provided to the child and how this duty is implemented,
• whether the information provided to the child, orally and/or written, is adapted to the child or whether there is specific child-friendly information developed by agencies in the criminal justice system.
• whether there are information services set up which are accessible for child victims.
2. The child victim during investigation
Starting out from the objective that measures should be taken to protect the child victim from hardship during the investigation stage of the justice process, this theme could be viewed from two main perspectives: the conditions according to which the child victim is interviewed and the persons involved in the questioning.
More precisely, the first perspective concerns various child-sensitive means to prevent hardship during the interview of the child victim. Some examples of consideration to the child at this stage are interrogation techniques, sensitivity for the child by means of routines for the questioning, child-friendly interview rooms, the time allowed for social contact between the child and the interviewer and co-operation between the authorities involved in the investigation. This perspective also includes the issue of the numbers and the duration of the interviews.
The other direction of this theme is the persons involved in the questioning, i e the professional groups responsible for interviewing the child and the persons who are allowed to be present at questioning. An issue which is collateral to the last aspect is the professional requirements and training of the interviewers.
3. Legal representation for the child victim
Given the legal position and the vulnerability of the child victim, an appointment of a legal representative forms an important part of the consideration for the child victim in the judicial procedure. This is particularly relevant if the suspect is a member of the victim’s family. In view of the weight attached to legal representation, an interesting and important matter is whether the child has to look after the issue of representation himself/herself or through other bodies. In view of the specific and complex issues dealt with by the representative, the authority and the professional requirements on the legal representative is other issue of concern in this respect.
4. The child’s appearance in court
In view of the objective to protect the child from hardship in the judicial procedure and the principle of the best interest of the child, the issue of the child’s appearance in the court is central under this theme. A key matter related to this theme is whether the child is regarded as a competent and reliable witness and the position of the various judicial systems in that respect.
This theme could be divided in two main aspects: the presence of the child victim in the court room and the conditions which determine this fact (related to age etc) and secondly if and when the child is present, measures to facilitate the child’s appearance in court.
Childrens drawings
NEWS CURE
NEWS IN THE FIELD
The Council of Europe conference launched its new platform on children's rights on 2-3 June in Strasbourg.
CURE CONFERENCE
The conference was held in Stockholm December 3-4, 2009. Programme and material from the conference is now available.
Chronicles & Reflections
Texts and thoughts from renowned persons in the child area.
- Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority, Post address: Box 470, 901 09 UMEÅ, SWEDEN
Telephone: +46(0)90 70 82 00 - Fax: +46(0)90 17 83 53
- E-mail: registrator@brottsoffermyndigheten.se
- Street address: Storgatan 49 in Umeå