Impact evaluation of pre-recorded cross examination
An impact evaluation of pre-recorded cross examination for vulnerable and intimidated witnesses under the Section 28 of the YJCEA 1999.
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Section 28 (s.28) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (YJCEA) 1999 allows eligible witnesses to pre-record their cross-examination or re-examination before the trial. It is intended that the s.28 recording can be presented during the trial without the witness needing to attend and experience fear or distress about testifying.
In 2019, piloting of s.28 for the s.17(4) intimidated cohort began which included survivors of rape and modern slavery. National roll-out concluded in 2022.
This impact evaluation was conducted to help understand the effect of s.28 on conviction rates, court operations, and the timeliness of cases.
When analysing convictions and court operations, we used a form of analysis that allows us to identify the effect of s.28 across the whole caseload, including the phases of the rollout to compare courts with, and without, expanded s.28 provision.