Using Modern Technology to Protect Child Victims and Witnesses of Crime

Abstract

This study aims to address the issue of the use of modern technology as a mechanism that would protect child victims and witnesses of crime, by shedding light on the definitions associated with the study, the legal regulation of the use of these means with child victims and witnesses of crime, the legal scope of using these means, and talking about the procedures to be taken. The study followed the analytical approach to the legal provisions of the legislation under study. The study reached a set of results, including that electronic means are an effective means to remove the child victim or witness of crime from the atmosphere of the courtroom and reduce his tension by avoiding him confronting the offender, and to provide an appropriate environment that enables the victim or witness of crime to focus on questions and answer them in a comfortable environment. It enables him to provide better and clearer testimony, and the position of the Jordanian legislator came to explicitly stipulate the use of electronic means to protect child victims and witnesses of crime in investigation and criminal trial procedures, taking into account the guidelines adopted by the United Nations in the field of child witness and victim protection, as the legislator took into account When organizing the legal provisions for the use of electronic means, the Jordanian legal guarantees the validity of the investigation and criminal trial with children. Through the means of audio-visual communication, it became possible to direct interactive communication with sound and image without physical movement between children who are spatially separated from the court, and this is an achievement of the principle of presence, oral and public. It also concluded with a number of recommendations, including amending the legal provision that makes the use of electronic means to protect child victims and witnesses of crime permissible for the court to be obligatory in all investigation and criminal trial procedures as long as the legal guarantees for trials are observed, and to find a kind of continuous coordination and cooperation with the leading countries. To develop working methods in the courts, to achieve speedy justice, and to better serve children who are victims and witnesses of crime. Perhaps this study contributes to identifying the limits reached by the State of Jordan in terms of legislative and procedural interest in electronic means and its use to protect child victims and witnesses of crime.