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MoJ accused of 'spinning' video evidence study as rape convictions fall
The Observer
|March 30, 2025
The victims' minister has been accused of using "factual inaccuracies" about the effectiveness of video evidence in criminal trials by one of the UK's leading justice experts.
Vulnerable witnesses, such as children and rape victims, have been allowed to record video evidence rather than be cross-examined in person during crown court trials since a pilot in 2013, and across England and Wales since 2022.
Alex Davies-Jones MP, also the minister in charge of tackling violence against women and girls, told the Commons justice committee in a letter on 7 March that the policy, section 28, had not led to fewer guilty verdicts.
This story is from the March 30, 2025 edition of The Observer.
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