We are about giving a voice to the voiceless. Giving access to justice for vulnerable people including children, adults with physical disabilities, mental health issues, learning disabilities or neuro-developmental conditions affecting their ability to communicate. When a vulnerable person is involved in the justice system they may struggle to tell what they know or to understand the language of justice professionals who engage with them. This may be police officers trying to interview a witness or a suspect, or barristers trying working in the courtroom. Intermediaries are communication experts, originally created by statute for victims of crime. We have worked with children as young as 2, adults with locked-in syndrome, victims of serious crime whose capacity to communicate will mean that justice may not be done as they find themselves unable to explain themselves in court. With intermediary support they can. But there is little understanding about the role, the general public does not know that these categories of people are entitled in some cases to be considered for communication support. And whereas there is a service which matches victims to intermediaries, there is no such facility provided by the government for defendants (who may lose their liberty as a result) or parents in the family courts (who may lose their children to adoption) for example.
Founded by a group of intermediaries who were frustrated by the lack of knowledge about the role, and the fact that there was no place where the public could find out about intermediaries the charity was set up.
Our members are self-employed intermediaries who derive support from the charity in that it is a place to pool resources, to network and to work out how to raise the profile of the work we do so that more people can give meaningful evidence in court and justice can be done.We aim to provide information through the website about the support which is on offer.
Intermediaries for Justice is a Charity which aims to
raise awareness of the communication needs of vulnerable people involved in the justice system.
share knowledge and understanding of vulnerable people's communication needs with other professionals in the justice system
raise awareness of how intermediaries as communication specialists work within the justice system
provide a professional platform for intermediaries to discuss, develop and collaborate on all aspects of their work.
We seek to educate by running seminars for judges, barristers and groups representing vulnerable people throughout the country. We want to train court staff who encounter vulnerable people, and police officers who presently can only request an intermediary for a victim from the Government's matching service.
We want to promote equality of access to justice for all vulnerable people and we work hard to give them a voice in various stakeholder groups and discussions around court modernisation for example. We have many ideas on how to give a voice to the voiceless but need some professional help in order to do so, in particular with fundraising.
