CJC Member Professor Jackie Hodgson is to join JUSTICE's 'What is a Trial' Working Party chaired by Sir Nicholas Blake QC, alongside other distinguished legal and academic experts from across the country. Building upon the work of previous JUSTICE inquiries and considering research into lay court users' experience of going to court, the Working Party will consider the extent to which the trial - in criminal, civil and administrative cases - may operate to exclude witnesses, jurors, and the public. It will evaluate the extent to which adversarial approaches, questioning, and culture, alienate court users and whether evidential, procedural and cultural practices are outmoded. In view of the introduction of special measures and HMCTS' Reform Programme, the Working Party will also explore whether technical innovations to the criminal trial help or hinder lay court users in participating effectively in the trial and communicating with professional court users.

Jackie brings her expertise in comparative criminal justice and detailed knowledge of adversarial and inquisitorial trial processes to the Working Party. Jackie is also Ph.D. Supervisor to Natalie Kyneswood, who is Rapporteur for the Working Party and whose thesis focuses on whether pre-recorded evidence is achieving best evidence and fairer trials in practice.

The Working Party commenced in February 2018 and is due to report at the end of the year. It will take evidence from its members, lay court users and those working in the court system and aims to provide positive and appropriate recommendations to the legal profession and policymakers to promote fairer trials and the effective involvement of all lay court users in trials in England and Wales.

For more information about the Working Party, follow this link: https://justice.org.uk/our-work/areas-of-work/what-is-a-trial/