Witness Intimidation Research Paper

Relevant Stakeholders When it comes to witness intimidation, there are several stake holders to take into account. These stakeholder can be greatly affected by the act of witness intimidation and the come from varying fields. These field span from social to legal with perspectives that vary as well. In no particular order, the first of the stakeholders include victim-witness units and crime victim advocacy groups (Debel, 2006). For these two stakeholders the main purpose of them is to be there for victims and witnesses. With witness intimidation being a problem for those that need their services, it is unquestionable that the stakes are high. Success for these stakeholders means that witness intimidation is less effective or better yet, not present at all. The next of the stakeholders are those involved in courts mainly including prosecutors and defense attorneys (Debel, 2006). These two types of lawyers are on opposing sides but witness intimidation affects them both in different ways. For a …show more content…
To bring down the success rate of such a wide spread occurrence, the witness protection program was created. For as long as witness intimidation had been a problem, the witness protection program hadn’t been developed until 1970. Back then they were known as Witness Security Program (WITSEC). WITSEC was created from the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and was developed by then Department of Justice attorney, Gerald Shur (Fyfe & McKay, 2000). The sole purpose of the witness protection program is to keep witnesses and their families safe from witness intimidation. To do this the program uses various methods. When delivered with great care and planning, the witness protection program successful carries out their mission. Without them, majority of witnesses who are targeted by intimidation would fall victim to it.
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