Welcome to the Witness Virtual Walkthrough
Witnesses play a vital part in society by helping to solve crime and stop injustice taking place. It is not unusual for people to feel anxious about giving evidence in court. Perhaps you are not sure if what you say, or how you say it, will help make sure that justice is done.
We hope this virtual tour will help you to understand the process and show you how much value we place on the contribution witnesses make to a fair society. Everyone working in the criminal justice system is determined to do all they can to ensure that witnesses are treated with respect and sensitivity.
You might be asked to give evidence in court if you know:
- Something about a particular crime, incident or dispute, for example because you saw it happen; or
- One of the people involved in a case, you could be asked to be a character witness. You would be asked to answer questions about, for example, how well you know the person and whether he or she is trustworthy.
There is no ownership of witnesses. This means that, in some cases, witnesses who originally give information to the police can be asked to give evidence for the defence in court. It will depend on which side thinks your evidence is most helpful to their case.
The tour aims to guide you through the criminal justice system in England and Wales from the time a crime is reported, through the police investigation, prosecution decision making, court processes, and sentencing (explaining the role of the witness at each of the stages).
It also provides information on the personal support that is available at all stages, including, when relevant, after the court case. The virtual tour aims to make the process that bit easier to understand and provide you with some idea of what you can realistically expect to happen.
The procedures described apply to all witnesses, whether you are a witness for the prosecution or for the defence.
We hope you find this virtual tour informative and useful. Please help us to best to meet the needs of witnesses by completing the feedback form provided when you have completed the tour.
The interactive version requires the Flash 6.0 or later plug-in and is best viewed at a screen resolution of 800 x 600 with a Javascript enabled browser. Please note that some company firewalls prevent the site from running. Please contact your IT department if you have problems. If you are unable to access the main site for whatever reason please enter the text version.
If you find that you cannot install the Flash Player it may be due to restrictions in place on your network or PC. Please contact your systems administrator for help and advice.