Northern Ireland: Intermediaries, Vulnerability, and the Criminal Justice System

Date of event: August 30, 2024

Online - Zoom

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Collab Webinars

Event Briefing

This webinar series is jointly supported by the British Society of Criminology Vulnerability Research Network, the Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, The Scottish Institute for Policing Research and the N8 New Researchers in Policing Network.

Event Programme

11:00 -
12:00
- Webinar

Intermediaries are communication specialists who work to facilitate communication in the criminal justice system. They assess vulnerable persons on their communication needs and make practical recommendations to police, judges and lawyers about how that person might be better accommodated.

In the UK, intermediaries have been working with vulnerable witnesses since 2004 but the legislation providing for the role does not cover suspects or defendants. In recent years, judges have stepped in to ‘fill the gap’ and allow some defendants in court to receive communication assistance from an intermediary. Nonetheless, in England and Wales there is no provision for intermediary assistance at the police station.

Northern Ireland has taken a different path. Since the rollout of its own intermediary scheme in 2013, it has covered both witnesses and suspects/defendants.

Event Speaker & Guests

Jenny Humphreys Speaker

Jenny Humphreys, Speech & Language Therapist-BSc Hons RCSLT HCPC, Registered Intermediary RINI 4/16. Jenny graduated from Speech & Language Pathology in 2004, and after working for 12 years in the NHS, she was trained by the Department of Justice and qualified as a Registered Intermediary in 2016. As a Speech and Language Therapist, she worked with adult and paediatric caseloads across a variety of settings including hospital, community, domiciliary and special schools. She specialised in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders, and laterally managed adults with swallowing disorders i.e., dysphagia.  She has also worked in a private capacity with neurological and voice disorders. As an Intermediary she has almost 8 years’ experience in assessing adults and children with communication difficulties within the Criminal Justice System, in Northern Ireland. The role includes facilitating communication at the investigative stages and at court to enable children and vulnerable adults’ (victims/witnesses, suspects/defendants) access to a fair trial and to assist them in giving evidence in a clear, complete, and coherent manner.

Dr John Taggart Speaker

Dr John Taggart has a background in legal practice and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2013 and Lincoln’s Inn (England and Wales) in 2015. John completed his PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE) with his thesis focusing on the role of the intermediary in the criminal justice system. John has worked closely with the Ministry of Justice (England and Wales) and the Department of Justice (Northern Ireland) on their respective witness intermediary models. Along with Professor Penny Cooper, John has recently advised the Australian Capital Territory Human Rights Commission as it expands its intermediary provision to the accused. He is also collaborating with the University of Limerick (Ireland) on mapping out the priorities for its inter-faculty ‘Professional Diploma in Intermediary Studies’. John has published widely in the areas of procedural fairness for vulnerable individuals and the use of intermediaries in the legal process. His monograph (The Intermediary in the Criminal Justice System) will be published by Routledge in early 2025. John is the theme lead for the 'Vulnerable Accused' as part of the British Society of Criminology Vulnerability Research Network and also co-convenes the 'Vulnerable Suspects and Defendants Work-in-Progress Forum'.

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