V. Shchepotkina Explained What Steps Should Be Taken to Successfully Implement Child-Friendly Justice Standards

Valentyna Shchepotkina, the Vice-President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, took part in a meeting of the representatives of the Interdepartmental Coordination Council on Juvenile Justice. During the event, there were presented reports on the results of monitoring the courts' compliance with child-friendly standards of justice in criminal proceedings and civil cases.

Among the recommendations provided by the results of the study:

• to extend the "child specialization" in criminal proceedings to all children in contact with and in conflict with the law (not only to the accused children, but also to child witnesses, child victims);
• to introduce systematic training of legal professionals regarding children (interrogators, investigators, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, psychologists, probation officers), giving preference to joint, interdisciplinary interactive trainings;
• to develop and form an electronic library of applied tools (guidelines, best practices, video trainings, tests, etc.) for various aspects of work with children in contact with the law;
• to develop child-friendly websites, supplements, etc. that could be a convenient source of information in accessible form on the organization and functioning of the justice system for children;
• to provide for the possibility for the court to recognize as a source of evidence the video recording of the interrogation of a child witness or victim made during the investigation phase, in accordance with the «green room» method, video recording of a child’s notification of a crime without his/her having to be re-interrogated in court in the absence of urgent need;
• to avoid interrogations, meetings in premises and conditions that may cause psychological trauma / stress to the child, in particular not to use halls with metal or glass barriers for proceedings against minors, etc.

Valentyna Shchepotkina stressed the importance and relevance of the topic noting that most of the recommendations proposed by experts were appropriate. At the same time, it is not only necessary to talk about these proposals, but also to take measures to implement them.

The Vice-President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court stated that the Law of Ukraine On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges obliges the courts to specialize in criminal proceedings against juvenile suspects, accused and convicts. "This rule does not really apply to juvenile victims and witnesses. In addition, I cannot but agree with the experts that sometimes the specialization in the consideration of criminal proceedings against minors is of a formal nature. To understand why this happened, you need to approach the solution of this problem in a comprehensive manner,” stressed Valentyna Shchepotkina.

The speaker explained that the specialization was an opportunity for a judge to focus in more detail on the relevant criminal proceedings. To do this, a judge must not only have certain judicial experience, experience in criminal proceedings, but also practical knowledge gained during special training on the specifics of working with children who are in contact with and in conflict with the law.

At the same time, in the opinion of the judge of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, in order for the institution of specialization of judges to function effectively, first of all, the stability in personnel capacity must be ensured. “However, today in many courts there is a shortage of judges, which results in the formalization of the issue of judicial specialization. The current staffing situation is as follows: there is no single judge with jurisdiction in the eight local courts. These eight courts cover a population of 137,000 who do not actually have access to justice. In addition, 81 local courts have only one judge with jurisdiction,” said Valentyna Shchepotkina.

According to her, if it is not possible to establish the composition of the court for trial, a mechanism for determining jurisdiction is launched: the criminal proceedings are referred to the court of appeal, which decides whether the criminal proceedings should be sent to another local court.

"In such conditions, it is impossible to ensure the proper functioning of the institute of specialization and consideration of proceedings within reasonable time limits. Therefore, while there is a shortage of judges, the specialization of judges in the consideration of criminal proceedings concerning juveniles will be formal," said the Vice-President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.

Valentyna Shchepotkina agreed that it was necessary to introduce systematic training for prosecutors, lawyers, psychologists so that they had the appropriate specialization. "A psychologist is the main link in ensuring the realization of interests of children in the courts of first and appellate instances. After all, it is the psychologist who best understands the child's perception of different circumstances. In addition, the role of psychologists in criminal proceedings against minors is more important than that of legal representatives," the speaker stressed.

She explained that in many criminal proceedings juvenile victims had two legal representatives, while one of them could be a witness in criminal proceedings and provide certain evidence. At the same time, the court is deprived of the opportunity to change the procedural status of the legal representative of the juvenile victim to a witness.

In addition, juvenile victims do not always have a trusting relationship with their legal representatives (for example, their father or mother), so it is easier for them to discuss the circumstances of the case with the psychologist than with their parents.

Valentyna Shchepotkina commented on the experts' recommendation on the possibility of the court recognizing as a source of evidence a video of the interrogation of a child witness or victim without having to re-interrogate him/her in court in the absence of an urgent need.

"The court cannot recognize anything as a source of evidence. The procedural sources of evidence (testimony, physical evidence, documents, expert opinions) are provided by the CPC of Ukraine. Currently it is necessary to make changes to Art. 225 "Interrogation of a witness, victim in the course of pre-trial investigation in court session" of the CPC of Ukraine, providing that the interrogation of a juvenile witness or victim should be conducted by an investigating judge (who should also specialize in criminal proceedings against minors) in the "green room". Thus, a report of the interrogation will be drawn up, in which the testimony of the person will be recorded and the video recording will be added as an integral part of this report", said the Vice-President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.

At the same time, the speaker added that in Chapter 38 of the CPC of Ukraine which refers to criminal proceedings against minors, it is noteworthy that criminal proceedings are conducted without summoning the juvenile victim, instead his/her testimony recorded in the report (with video recording) obtained in accordance with Art. 225 of the CPC of Ukraine is used. As a result of such changes, neither the court, nor the prosecutor, nor the defence attorney will invoke the principle of direct examination of evidence.

“Today, some of the recommendations that have emerged as the result of monitoring the courts' compliance with child-friendly standards of justice may seem only a dream. Some may even doubt that they will once be implemented. But we must remember: little strokes fell great oaks, and if we do not move forward, we will not be able to reach our goals. The first step that should be taken is to draw the attention of authorities to the urgent need to staff the institutions whose activities are related to issues of justice for children. First of all, it concerns the courts,” concluded her speech Valentyna Schepotkina.

For reference. The Interdepartmental Coordination Council on Juvenile Justice is a temporary consultative and advisory body of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (CMU) established in accordance with the resolution of the CMU of May 24, 2017, No. 357 (as amended by the resolution of the CMU of February 5, 2020 No. 45 and the resolution of the CMU of November 18, 2020 No. 1132) with a view to establishing an inter-institutional platform for the systematic discussion and resolution of problems in the development of juvenile justice and for the adoption of coordinated decisions in the best interests of the child.

Valentyna Shchepotkina, Vice-President of the Criminal Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, is a member of the Interdepartmental Coordination Council on Juvenile Justice.