Children in legal language settings. (ChiLLS)

The ChiLLS research project will investigate the interpreter-mediated questioning of minors who come into contact with the police or with other legal actors in the context of criminal proceedings. 

ChiLLS is a continuation of the CO-MINOR-IN/QUEST I and CO-MINOR-IN/QUEST II research projects. 

The ChiLLS research project wishes to take the above mentioned research a step further. The researchers will conduct interviews and focus groups with minors who are or were involved in a criminal investigation. Furthermore, the researchers will focus on highly vulnerable minors. This means that the minors are not only vulnerable because of their age or their mother tongue but also because of some physical, hearing, visual or mental impairment. 

The aim of the research project is to inform highly vulnerable minors about how/where they can get help if they do not speak the same language as that of the investigation. To reach that aim, the researchers will develop posters, leaflets and other educative materials.

The goal of this research is to inform the legal actors, including juvenile court judges and youth counsellors, but also police officers and lawyers, psychologists and social workers, about how to deal with highly vulnerable minors who do not speak the language of the proceedings. The main focus will be on detecting impairment and taking into account the influence such impairment can have on the communicative situation involving the minor. All this information will be brought together on a website: in that way, the experts involved can very easily search for and find information about important factors to take into account when conducting interpreter-mediated interviews with highly vulnerable minors. Toolkits and a compass will also be made available on the website to allow those involved to quickly detect problems in the target group. Furthermore, the stake holders can get in touch with each other through a secured communication platform on the same website. In that way, real multi-disciplinarity can be achieved.