In England, Wales and Northern Ireland a broad legal and policy framework is in place for the protection of child victims, witnesses and suspects, either with a child specific focus or through measures applicable also to adults.1 With respect to child suspects, the age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland begins at 10 and a Youth Justice system is in place with the principal aim of preventing offending by children under the age of 18. Actions are aimed at discouraging or preventing offending in the first place, by diverting children from the criminal justice system, introducing a range of out-of-court disposals, addressing offending behaviour and by managing the overall welfare of child offenders to help reduce reoffending2. The system also works to ensure that custody of children is safe, secure and addresses the causes of their offending. The majority of children (10-17) are tried in a Youth Court3 though children may be tried in adult courts for certain serious offences or where they have been charged with an adult. In contrast, child victims and witnesses must go through the formal criminal justice system where the offender is an adult. Some specific rules and procedures exist for dealing with child victims in criminal proceedings but these are not extensive. For the most part, such matters are dealt with through guidelines and advisory information. Nevertheless, a victim or witness under 18 years of age is automatically regarded as being vulnerable and therefore eligible to be considered for special measures. The primary focus of such measures is achieving high quality evidence during interviews and when providing testimony in court, though they inevitably help to protect the child's welfare as well. With respect to general crimes, specialist institutions are not in place to deal with child victims and witnesses. Thus the normal police, prosecution and court services will deal with such children. However, witness care units or young witness services are provided to help victims/ witnesses when they must attend court. In addition, wide ranging legislation has been in place, and has undergone regular reviews, since 1933 establishing a child protection system focused on protecting children from neglect and abuse. The combination of law and policy, seeks to establish a child protection system in which agencies e.g. police, local children's services authorities, schools, paediatricians etc. are required to work with each other for the protection of children.
