Court Familiarisation Visits

Most people feel better about being a witness if they know what to expect and have visited the court beforehand. These visits will usually be arranged by VIA, the children’s reporter or the defence lawyer.

The Witness Service routinely carries out familiarisation visits at court and at any other television link site, to help anxious witnesses in criminal cases become more familiar with the court setting and proceedings. Other support organisations may also help with this.

You may prefer to look at an image of a courtroom on a CD Rom or DVD, which also includes information on special measures for vulnerable witnesses and describes how they are used. Ask the person citing you as a witness to let you see the CD Rom or DVD, and to discuss arranging an actual visit to the court.

You can also see what a courtroom looks like on this website.

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