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Child Witness Investigative Interviews: An Analysis of the Use of Children's Video-Recorded Evidence in North Yorkshire

Since the 1992 onset in England and Wales of video-recorded investigative interviews with children for possible use in criminal proceedings, there have been claims that far too many such interviews are being recorded. Indeed, debate about the usefulness of video-recorded interviews centres on the argument that only a few of the many interviews with children which have been recorded on video are used either in criminal courts or, indeed, anywhere else. This paper examines the number and outcome of the video-recorded interviews which were conducted between 1993 and 1996 by the North Yorkshire Police Family Protection Unit (South). Some time after having a video-recorded interview with a child witness/victim the police officer involved in the case completed a questionnaire, the results of which were collated. The results suggest that interviews with children provide useful evidential material and are, in fact, being used. This paper relates only to records kept by the police and not social services. It is not the intention to disregard the process of joint investigation or, indeed, to ignore the importance of the role of social services in the video-recorded interviews referred to in this paper.