The Secret Barrister- The devil's greatest trick: Putting the victim first

 Summary

In the fifth chapter of The Secret Barrister Stories of the law and how it is broken we learn all about the witnesses and the experience of giving evidence and the motto "Putting the Victim first". In this chapter, we look briefly at a variety of different cases/ case studies and how the law has 'failed' some witnesses and victims. As I have mentioned in each other summary, I am not writing about every single issue raised in the chapter or am not writing in detail so I would strongly recommend you read this excellent book. There is much more in the book which I have not included which is really interesting, including each of the case studies and the details of each.

Firstly, the writer starts with the point that previous witnesses said they would not be a witness in a case ever again and this is for a variety of reasons, some of which will be mentioned later. Mainly this is because the witnesses/victim are not put first and are in many cases treated unfairly, again I will include details about this further down. I will get right into the other points I have identified in this chapter which I see as reasons why witnesses would not like to do it again. 

Secondly, (and I agree from personal experience) the victims and witnesses are often given a lack of information about the guilty party and although this is because of the Criminal Justice System/ Crown Prosecution Service and the courts; the police are in fact no better at providing information for those involved or who have witnessed the criminal behaviour. Closely linked to this point, lack of court time means that many cases are afloat and so at times are transferred to another court often a long way away and this means the witnesses, as well as everyone else, have to make their way to this new court at their own expense.

There is also the issue of many cases being adjourned. Although cases can be adjourned for many different reasons it is important as the secret barrister mentions that the witnesses have their own lives and have to sacrifice their days to give evidence which could negatively impact the witness, for example, someone being self-employed or school-aged pupils being called to give evidence in the middle of exam season. One common issue for cases being adjourned are in cases where someone does not speak English and the translator who is meant to be there either have not turned up to the case or are under-qualified/ do not have the qualifications they claimed they had.

Cases are also dropped for many different reasons, and so witnesses and victims sometimes have to live with the fact that the accused will not be punished either before they have given evidence or after they have given evidence and the writer comments about how hard this is for a variety of people. For example, if there are two people accused and there is no evidence to say which one is responsible then the court would rather release a guilty man than imprison an innocent man and will let them both go due to the lack of evidence.

Finally, in some sexual offences, the Secret Barrister mentions how the victims past sexual behaviour have been looked at to help with the case. The writer has said that the media and those who are not experienced with the law do not like the idea of the victims past sexual behaviour being used but in my opinion it is a good idea. In a short video, I watched to do with the Secret Barrister but not relevant to the book saw a doctor being arrested as he was accused of historic sexual abuse amongst other crimes. Cut long story short, when the investigators looked at the history of the complaint they saw that she in the past said she was sexually abused as a child but later said she lied and so because of this the doctor was found not guilty on all his counts.

Anyway, that is this chapter in a nutshell but I can not emphasise enough how you should read the chapter for yourself before reading this post. This is basically my opinions on each matter raised as well as the issues raised summarised to reflect on after reading the chapter. 

Please share your views in the comments section below.