Rantzen calls for court system shake up

Esther Rantzen CBE, journalist and founder of ChildLine, addressed those working with children and challenged the current court system at a conference organised by CHILDREN 1ST.

The conference, ‘Voice of the Child in the Judicial System’, focused on changes that should be made to significantly improve the experience for children who have to appear in court.

Esther Rantzen was joined by the Lord Advocate, the Rt Hon Elish Angiolini QC, who brought her significant commitment to improving conditions for vulnerable witnesses.

As well as these high-profile and influential speakers, the event also heard from young people about their own experiences of the judicial system.

Anne Houston, Chief Executive of CHILDREN 1ST, said: “We were delighted to welcome Esther Rantzen and the Lord Advocate. Both women brought a wealth of knowledge and experience with them and their presence made for an informative and engaging event.

We know from our day-to-day experiences of working with children and young people that a hearing is often a confusing and extremely intimidating environment. While some progress on this issue has been made, we are very concerned that children are still prevented from giving their best evidence, and that they describe the system as harming them rather than protecting them.”

“The conference explored how their experiences could be made more positive, enabling them to give of their best evidence in an environment which supports them to do so.”

Esther Rantzen CBE added: “The justice system was designed to frighten adults into telling the truth. Tragically, it also frightens children into silence. We will never achieve real justice for children until we radically change our judicial system. But will the lawyers ever allow that?”