Access to Justice for Children with Autism

Dr Rachel Wilcock

Rachel was awarded her PhD in Psychology in 2002 from the University of Portsmouth titled the Performance of Older Eyewitnesses on Photographic Identification Line-ups. Immediately following this she started work as a lecturer in psychology at Kingston University where she stayed until 2005 before moving to become a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at London South Bank University. There, she was made a Reader of Psychology and developed and became Course Director of an MSc Investigative Forensic Psychology course which attracts a large number of practitioners working within the Criminal Justice System.  Rachel is currently Reader in Psychology at the University of WInchester, where she is also Head of Department.  Eyewitness identification and interviewing witnesses is her major research interest and in particular investigating methods to improve the performance of vulnerable witnesses (children, those with intellectual disability, autism and adults aged 60 and over). She has published widely in international peer reviewed journals and presented at a number of national and international conferences on the subject of identification and interviewing procedures. Together with Professor Ray Bull and Dr Becky Milne she has written a book on witness identification published by Oxford University Press.  She has connections with a number of police forces across England and Wales and has developed a multi- media presentation for police to show to witnesses prior to them viewing an identification parade to help inform them about police procedures and allay any fears they have about viewing an identification parade.