
Victims' Directive Conference
Victims' Directive Conference The Gaffney Room Monday 9th April 2018 10.30am to 6.30pm
Funded by the Criminal Justice Programme of the European Union, The Bar of Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties will host a one day Conference on victims rights. Focusing on best practice from abroad the conference will challenge us on how we can improve our criminal justice system for the benefit of victims.
Attendance at this conference is free to barristers, solicitors and judges, as well as other suitably qualified professionals working with victims of crime, but pre-registration is essential to guarantee you a place. If you intend to stay for the full day, you must register for both sessions
Recognizing that not everyone may be unable to attend the full day, there is an option to sign up for the final session only which commences at 4.15pm. The final two hours will be more practically focused on the needs of barristers and solicitors.
Unfortunately this room is not wheelchair accessible.
5 CPD hours (for solicitors this divides into 4 Management & Professional CPD hours and 1 General CPD hour)
Tickets
Speakers & Topics:
• Margaret Tuite, EU Commission Coordinator for the Rights of the Child.
• Mary Rose Gearty SC will illustrate best practice in cross-examining a victim via a mock cross examination.
• Dr Geoffrey Shannon, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, who will speak about the Victims’ Directive from the perspective of the rights of children.
• Judith Thompson, Commissioner for Victims and Survivors in Northern Ireland, who will speak about the relevance of the Victims’ Directive in cross boarder crime and historical crime in a Brexit era.
• Dr. Carol Coulter, Director of the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP) will speak about some of the cases that she has encountered relating to child protection proceedings, arising from abuse.
• The Court House Dog Foundation will speak to the use of court house dogs in the US as a communication aid to help children and adults give better evidence as they are calmer due to the dogs presence.
• Maeve Lewis from One in Four will discuss the trauma training she has provided to defence lawyers at the International Criminal Court.
• Dr. Mary Phelan, Dublin City University will highlight the lack of regulation of the quality of interpretation and transition services being provided to victims and defendants.