What are the needs and experiences of victims, defence witnesses, and those in distressing civil, family, or tribunal cases? How does this vary by protected characteristics, socio-economic or socio-demographic background and jurisdiction?

Background

We want to modernise the procedures and infrastructure of our courts and tribunals, leading an effective, efficient and coordinated justice system across all the civil, criminal and family justice jurisdictions.

Next steps

We can be contacted at the following email address: evidence_partnerships@justice.gov.uk.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Areas of research interest

Related UKRI funded projects

  • Special Measures for Vulnerable Witnesses: Use, Effectiveness, and Improvement

    The use of special measures (i.e., provisions introduced by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999) to support vulnerable witnesses giving evidence in court has recently increased dramatically. Best-practice u...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project investigates the use and effectiveness of special measures used with vulnerable witnesses, which directly relates to the needs and experiences of victims and witnesses in distressing cases.

  • Victims of crime, criminal justice and social exclusion

    I will use my institutional and AHRC leave to complete a book project, 'Victims of Crime, Social Exclusion and Criminal Justice'. This book will be a socio-legal analysis of the rights of victims of crime in the UK crimi...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project analyzes the rights of victims of crime in the criminal justice system, which directly relates to the needs and experiences of victims and witnesses in distressing cases.

  • Victims' access to justice through English criminal courts, 1675 to the present

    This interdisciplinary project examines public access to justice in England over three centuries - from the 1670s to the present. Bringing together leading criminologists and crime historians, it will assemble and analys...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project examines public access to justice in England over three centuries, which partially relates to the needs and experiences of victims and witnesses in distressing cases.

  • Towards the development of a framework for the interviewing of vulnerable people by the police in Japan

    This application develops research collaboration between researchers and police officers, both in Japan and the UK, to identify, for the first time, the framework for a best practice model for the interviewing of vulnera...

    Funded by: FIC

  • Domestic Abuse Proceedings In Family Courts: Overlap And Pathways In Private And Public Family Justice

    Domestic abuse proceedings in family courts are not studied at national level in England and Wales beyond basic national statistics. Until recently, research access to national family justice data has been restricted to ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project specifically focuses on domestic abuse proceedings in family courts, exploring experiences and outcomes, which directly addresses the needs and experiences of victims and defense witnesses in distressing civil cases.

  • Prosecutors' Interviews with Crown Witnesses: A Socio-Legal and Comparative Analysis

    Prosecution barristers traditionally do not speak to complainants and other prosecution witnesses in England and Wales. Fears of being accused of 'coaching' a witness to testify at trial have precluded virtually all dire...

    Funded by: AHRC

  • Language of DIY Justice: Communication practices & processes

    The project explores the language of DIY Justice by focusing on communication as an inherent part of court hearings as well as court processes and procedures. Since cuts to legal aid in 2013, an increasingly high number ...

    Funded by: AHRC

  • Bereaved Family Activism in the Aftermath of Lethal Violence

    The proposed Fellowship aims to refine and develop scholarship on the phenomenon of bereaved family activism in the aftermath of lethal violence. Following David Garland's (2001; see also, McGarry and Walklate, 2015) ass...

    Funded by: ESRC

Similar ARIs from other organisations

Justice Processes & Experiences - Trauma, Mental Illness and the Justice System To what extent have trauma-informed practices been embedded within the Scottish justice system? What progress has been made and what aspects of the system still need to be adapted in order to minimise harm and re-traumatisation, support the recovery of victims and, enable the most effective evidence gathering? Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services, 2025
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