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68 N. Ir. Legal Q. 451 (2017)
Non-Verbal Victims in the Adversarial Criminal Process: Communication, Competency, and Credibility

handle is hein.journals/nilq68 and id is 467 raw text is: NILQ 68(4): 451-68 Non-verbal victims in the adversarial criminal process: communication, competency, and credibility JONATHAN DOAK Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University AND LAURAN DOAK Sheffield Institute of Education, Sheffield Hallam University Abstract Research consistently shows that persons with learning disabilities are more likely to be victims of cime. For such victims, engaging with the riminaljustice system ma/y be fraught with djficulties given the expectation that victims should normai articulate verbal and with fluency both their testimony and their views on issues pertaining to the justice process itself Grounded in the princefle of oraliy and often likened to a sjstem of gladiatorial combat, adversarialjustice systems have a poor track record of hearing the voices of victims of crime who have learning disabilities. However, recent jears have witnessed an attitudinal shift towards meeting the needs of victims who require communication support; with legal and policy reforms introduced across multefle jurisdictions designed to enable more effective partic pation in the justice process. Augmentative and alternative communication could constitute an important support mechanism to enable and empower victims of crime who would struggle to express themselves verbally in the courtroom; yet these alternative forms of voice are alien to the oral tradition and sit uneasily within the prioriy traditionally afforded to adversarial questioning techniques. Keywords: victims; witnesses; disabilities; communication; competency; credibility; augmentative and alternative communication Introduction T here is a growing corpus of literature documenting the specific difficulties experienced by victims with learning disabilities within the criminal process.1 Disabled persons are at a considerably higher risk of victirnisation generally, and disability hate crime and sexual offences in particular.2 They are often highly dependent on paid or farmily caregivers for assistance in multiple domains including managing personal finances, personal (intimate) care and social care which may create opportunities for abusers; and people with learning 1 See e.g. Jessica Jones, 'Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in the Criminal justice System: Review of Issues' (2007) 51 International journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 723; Shane Kilcommins et al, An Internalional Review of Legal Provisions and Supportsjor People with Disabilies as Victims of Crme (Irish Council of Civil Liberties 2014); Chih Hoong Sin et al, DisabledPeople Expeiences of Targeted violence and Hosilit (Equality and Human Rights Commission 2009). 2 See e.g. Lisa Jones et al, 'Prevalence and Risk of Violence against Children with Disabilities: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Observational Studies' (2012) 380 The Lancet 899; Sue Ralph et al, 'Disability Hate Crime: Persecuted for Difference' (2016) 43(3) British journal of Special Education 215. NILQ winter 2017

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