Noticeboard
| DOI | 10.1177/136571279800200306 |
| Published date | 01 July 1998 |
| Date | 01 July 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Noticeboard |
OTICEBOARD
Contributions
tothe
Noticeboard
are
invited.
Notices
should
be
sent
to
Roger
Leng,
School
of
Law,
University
of
Warwick,
Coventry
CV4
7AL.
Tel.
01203 523168;
Fax
01203 524105;
email
R.Leng@Warwick.ac.uk
Child
interviews
-
admissibility
in
civil
proceedings
The Court
of
Appeal has
held
that
where
children
are interviewed by social
workers or
other
health
professionals
with
a view to
the
interview
being
admitted
in family or
other
civil proceedings.
the
guidelines applicable to
criminal
proceedings
should
be followed (see Memorandum of
Good
Practice
on
Video-recorded
Interviews with
Child
Witnesses in Criminal
Proceedings,
Home
Office. 1992). Social workers
should
distinguish
between interviews for
therapeutic
and
investigative purposes.
It
was
important
to
guard
against
leading
questions,
and
video
or
audio
recording
of
such
interviews was
desirable. Failure to follow
the
guidelines
might
lead to
the
exclusion
of
evidence
of
the
interview: In re D
(Minors)
(Child
abuse
interviews).
The
Times.
11
February 1998.
Disclosure
in
criminal
proceedings
-
application
ofthe
Criminal
Procedure
and
Investigations
Act
1996 -
time
when
investigation
began
The Queens Bench Divisional
Court
has held
that
for
the
purpose
of
determining
whether
the
disclosure regime
of
the
Criminal Procedure
and
Investigations Act 1996 would apply to a
particular
alleged offence.
the
relevant investigation could
not
have
begun
before
the
date
of
the
alleged
offence: R v
Norwich
StipendiaryMagistrate, ex p.
Keable
and
others,
The
Times.
5
February 1998.
Prior to
this
decision it
had
been
arguable
that
in some circumstances
an
investigation
into
an offence
might
be considered to have
begun
before
the
offence
itself
was
committed,
for instance. in
relation
to alleged drugs
offences detected in
the
course
of
a
long-running
investigation. If
the
relevant
investigation was held to have
commenced
prior
to 1 April 1997.
the
effect
would have
been
to disapply
the
1996 Act. This case conveniently confirms
that
the
1996 Act will apply to all offences
committed
after
1 April 1997.
THE
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
OF
EVIDENCE
&
PROOF
207
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