Children’s evidence cross-examined

The complex question of how children should give evidence to court - particularly when it could be critical to convicting someone of child abuse - will be the subject of a University of Cambridge conference next month. The one-day conference, hosted by the University's Law Faculty, will bring together experts from various legal systems around the world, including some where mechanisms are already in place to prevent young children from having to go through the distressing experience of giving their evidence to full court during a trial. At the moment, English law demands that even tiny children come to court for a live cross-examination if there is to be any chance of convicting a person who has abused them. Perhaps the highest profile case in recent times was that of Stephen Barker - one of three individuals convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child in the case of Baby P. In 2009, Barker was jailed for life in a separate case, for raping a two-year-old girl. His conviction hinged, however, on the appearance of the child at the trial, aged just four, to describe how she had been abused. The girl in question became the youngest witness to give evidence in a criminal trial in this country. Critics argue that demanding a child's evidence in this way has a number of disadvantages.