Rules laid down in 1921 governed how inquiries were run until 2005, when a new act was introduced. That was in part inspired by the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, the British army’s massacre of 13 civil-rights marchers in Northern Ireland in 1972. It marked a turning point. Though widely regarded as a success, the cost—around £195m ($240m)—was prohibitive. The government introduced the 2005 act in part so that the expense of future investigations could be limited. Inquiries became narrower in their scope. Lord Hutton’s scrutiny of the death of David Kelly, a government weapons-scientist, cost a mere £2.5m and heard evidence for just 22 days. The child-abuse inquiry breaks with that trend. The budget for 2015-16 alone was £17.9m. Theresa May, who initiated the investigation as home secretary, has ordered an interim report by the end of 2018, but the inquiry has no end date.
2005年新的调查法案出台前，调查的组织方式一直由1921年的法律规定。出台新法案的部分原因是萨维尔领导的“血色星期天”（1972年，英国军队杀害了13名参加北爱尔兰游行示威活动的民权人士）调查。虽然调查结果被广泛认可，但高达1.95亿欧元（2.4亿美元）的成本令政府难以承受。基于限制今后调查花费的考虑，政府提出了新法案。调查规模也随之缩小。赫顿勋爵负责的武器科学家大卫·凯利死亡事件的调查花费250万欧元，听取证词用时22天。虐童调查打破了这一趋势，单单2015—2016年度的预算就达1790万欧元。日前，担任内政部长时发起该调查的首相特蕾莎·梅，要求调查委员会在2018年年底前提交调查中期报告，但没有规定调查的最终结束日期。
Its vast remit has prompted criticism. It will examine instances of child abuse dating back to 1970 in institutions in England and Wales as wide-ranging as the army, churches, the police, Parliament, schools and health services. But the subject of such investigations does not necessarily determine their length or cost. The Saville inquiry focused on events that took place over a matter of minutes. The investigation took 12 years. Meanwhile the hearings for an inquiry into child abuse in Jersey, examining wrongdoing as far back as the second world war, took two years (it has yet to publish its report).
调查牵涉范围之广深受诟病。审查内容涵盖英格兰、威尔士政府以及军队、教堂、警局、国会、学校和医疗服务部门等机构1970年以来的虐童案例。然而，调查对象不一定是调查耗时和成本的决定因素。萨维尔花费12年，调查的仅仅是发生在几分钟内的事情。泽西虐童调查听证用时仅2年，却审查了二战以来的违法行为（调查报告尚未公布）。
Success has more to do with how well inquiries are managed. Each is set up individually; there is little institutional memory because there are no institutions associated with them. Judges, the preferred chairmen, rarely lead more than one. It takes years out of their career and often means moving to a different part of the country for the duration. Alexis Jay, a former chief inspector of social work for Scotland who is now leading the child-abuse inquiry, ran a successful investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham. Her experience is a point in the current inquiry’s favour. Trevor Buck, a professor of socio-legal studies at De Montfort University, reckons a central unit should be established to capture the knowledge gleaned from previous inquiries.
成功的调查很大程度上源于良好的组织。当前，每项调查均独立展开。他们与各个政府机构毫不相干，因此几乎拿不到任何机构的档案。担任负责人的法官主持的案子一般不超过一项。他们要多年脱离现在的岗位，前往另一个地区工作。期待您的翻译。丰富的经验是她成功的主要原因。德蒙福特大学社会法律学教授特雷弗·巴克认为，应当建立一个中央层面的小组专门负责采集以往调查积累的信息。
Success also depends on how aims are defined. Inquiries determine facts and allow the airing of grievances. They also make recommendations which may lead to change. The Scarman report into the Brixton riots of 1981 led to improvements in policing. But no mechanism exists to guarantee that such are acted on. And if inquiries take too long, they become irrelevant. The child-abuse investigation has been running for two years and has yet to hear any evidence. Whatever the challenges, it must get a move on.
调查能否成功还取决于最终目标是什么。调查质量决定事实真相，不仅应当允许公开各种丑闻，还应当提出有助于改变现状的意见建议。Scarman关于1981年布莱克斯通骚乱的调查报告直接促使了警务工作的改善。但是在现有机制下，很难再出现类似有影响力的报告。持续时间太长就会使调查变得无足轻重。虐童调查已经进行了两年，但是还没有举行过任何听证。无论碰到了多大困难，调查都必须再加快些进度。
