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Listen
Your views
If the person citing you as a witness believes that you might qualify as a vulnerable witness, they will explain the special measures to you and how they will work. They will ask for your views about whether any of the special measures might help you to give your evidence and which one(s) you might prefer to use. They will also explain what information will be included in the application to be submitted to the court.
Not all vulnerable witnesses will want to use special measures. Even if you are particularly vulnerable, you may prefer to give your evidence without using a special measure. However, in some cases, the judge or sheriff may still decide that it would be in your best interest to use a special measure whilst giving your evidence.
You should talk to the person citing you about your own particular circumstances and your thoughts about the court case including which particular special measure(s) you may find most helpful.
The court will take account of your views along with any of the information included in the application before coming to a decision about whether to allow you to use a special measure and which special measure is the most appropriate to your circumstances.
If your circumstances change, or you change your mind about what special measures might be most helpful, you should tell the person who is citing you as a witness. They will discuss with you what alternative special measures might be more suitable and whether an application will be made to the court.
In all cases, it is possible for the court to review the arrangements for you to give your evidence. This means that, even once you have started giving your evidence, the court can consider allowing you to use a special measure or can change the special measure you are using. The court is likely to do this if it believes that the quality of your evidence is being affected by your particular vulnerability.
After reading this booklet, you may already have an idea about which special measure might be most helpful to you, or you may find it helpful in reaching a decision to visit a courtroom or the television link room if you are considering using this special measure. It may also be possible to use a CD-Rom to look at an image of a courtroom and see how each of the special measures will operate.
It is important to remember that the court will have regard to your best interests as a witness but must also take account of the interests of justice and the fairness to the trial or hearing.
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