The witness
protection program is frequently used as a plot device in movies and on TV
shows, but many people don't know much about the system in reality. In the
U.S., witness security has protected 7,500 witnesses and 9,500 of their family
members since it began, and the testimonies of these witnesses has led to an
89% conviction rate of those they testified against. Here are 10 other things
you didn't know about the program that helps take down organized crime, gang
violence, and terrorism.
It's kind of surprising that the U.S. was the first to come up with the
idea of creating a program to protect witnesses. Even stranger is that witness
security is only about 40 years old. It began when the Organized Crime and
Racketeering Section of the Justice Department introduced the Organized Crime
Control Act of 1970 and started to actively protect witnesses in 1971. The law
gave the Department of Justice freedom to arrange for the security of witnesses
as they see fit, and though it was originally passed in order to curb mafia
crimes, it now covers people who testify against drug cartels, gangs, and
terrorist groups. The program was expanded by the Comprehensive Crime Control
Act of 1984 to cover some relatives and associates of the witnesses. Though there
are still some problems with the program, it has been incredibly effective in
coercing witnesses to provide testimonies that have landed major criminals in
prison.
Since many countries struggle with organized crime, the method for
protecting and relocating essential witnesses has been picked up in many
countries around the world. Australia, a country whose population famously
started with criminals, began their own program in 1983, along with
complementary regional programs. Germany has had one since the mid-'80s and
Hong Kong started theirs in the '90s. Colombia established a three-program
system in their constitution, which provides information and monitoring for
witnesses. The third and most intense program is for the witnesses of
kidnappings, terrorism, and drug trafficking, and provides relocation
assistance and support. Even the International Criminal Court has established a
witness security organization.
Before the establishment of an official witness protection program in
any country, no one could get mafia members to speak against their leaders to
police or in court. Their code of silence meant that if you cooperated with
police, they would kill you. In 1963, Joseph Valachi became the first person
from the Italian-American Mafia to break the code of silence and he testified
to a congressional committee about how the mafia works. While talking to the
committee, he was guarded by 200 U.S. Marshals because there was rumored to be
a $100,000 bounty on his head, and he was the first person to be offered
protection for his testimony. He spent the rest of his life in protective
custody in prison, afraid to even eat food prepared by anyone but himself. His
testimony and protection led the U.S. to start a program for witnesses.
If you think you can testify against a criminal and just waltz into a
new life in the witness security program, you're wrong. There are several
qualifications you have to meet to be eligible to take part in witness
protection. First, your testimony has to be essential to the case, usually a
serious criminal one, and put your life or your family's life in danger. If
they can get testimony against a criminal from someone else that would be at
less risk, they'll use them instead of you. Your testimony also has to be seen
as credible and they have to be sure that you're going to show up at trial.
Unreliable people don't get new identities. Ultimately, the U.S. Attorney
General's office has the final say in who gets to enter the program, but all
the requirements have to be met so that resources are only used on the most
important and at-risk people.
It's obviously really difficult to leave behind family and friends and
cut all ties with the life you knew, but witness protection does offer some
perks to help participants get back on their feet quickly. U.S. Marshals find a
reasonable job opportunity or provide vocational training for the participants
and help them find housing. The witnesses normally receive about $60,000 in
subsistence payments, but if they don't actively seek employment, those
payments will stop. Obviously this assistance wouldn't be spectacular for
someone who used to make six figures in a previous life, but for many, this is
more than they had before. You'll also likely get to come up with your new
name, so if your parents gave you a bad one, — you're a boy named Sue or something
equally horrible — this is your chance to turn things around. The payments,
training, new name, and other help is all in addition to getting to stay alive,
which is probably the biggest plus.
Getting witnesses to the trial to testify is one of the most important
tasks that faces a U.S. Marshal. This is the time when the person needs the
most protection so that the criminal can be convicted and the witness can be
taken to a safer place. Some of the tricks for transporting witnesses to trial
safely include using nontraditional vehicles that potential assailants wouldn't
expect. The founder of the witness security program, Gerald Shur, says Marshals
have used everything from mail trucks to helicopters to fishing boats to bring
witnesses to trial. Sometimes decoy cars are sent to the courthouse to distract
people while Marshals sneak the witness in through another entrance. Nothing is
too crazy to keep the witnesses safe to testify.
According to the U.S. Marshals service, no witnesses who have entered
their protection and followed the rules have ever been harmed. The rules
basically say that you can't have any contact with associates from your past or
unprotected family members and that you can't go back to the city where you
lived before relocation. Lots of witnesses who break these guidelines have been
killed. For example, a young man who had been relocated from San Francisco
returned there in 2006 and was shot to death. Another girl, just 17 years old,
testified against a notorious gang, got a new identity, and then contacted some
of her old associates that were still tied to the gang to come try out her
hotel's hot tub. She was killed within days of the phone call.
Many of the people who enter into witness security programs are
criminals themselves who have given key testimony on their former bosses or
associates. Before allowing a criminal to participate in witness protection,
the U.S. Attorney General evaluates whether the risk the witness would pose to
his new community is less than the value of his testimony. If they think the
danger to the community isn't high, they'll relocate the witness and inform the
local law enforcement of his location and criminal record. There's obviously
some chance that a criminal will go back to his old ways while in witness
protection, but the percent of criminals that re-offend while in the program is
between 17% and 23%. The rate of parolees who return to crime after prison is
somewhere between 40% and 60%, significantly higher than those in witness
protection.
If someone in witness protection commits a crime or a criminal becomes
a witness but is headed to prison, they can still be protected. They'll be
taken into protective custody and no longer be under the authority of the U.S.
Marshals but by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. There are different layouts for
protective custody in various prisons, but the main idea is that the witnesses
are separated from the general prison population to avoid revenge for
testifying. Other types of prisoners are often placed in protective custody,
too, such as those whose crimes put them at high risk for attacks by other
inmates or those trying to avoid getting in trouble as they near their parole
date, so it becomes hard to tell who was a witness.
Because the government was responsible for placing a criminal witness
in your community, and the law enforcement there was informed of their
presence, if they commit a crime against you, you're entitled to be compensated
out of the Victims Compensation Fund. The money is given for certain crimes to
cover expenses for medical or funeral costs, and lost wages if you had to take
off work. You should be aware that the government's not just going to hand you
this money; you have to seek restitution or compensation under the law or
through a lawsuit, and they won't cover what's been paid by your insurance. Of
course, you won't know if someone who assaults or robs you is under federal
protection, so you should seek compensation whenever you're a victim of a
crime. You could get lucky and get to blame the government.
Story by Rose King
http://www.bestonlinecolleges.com/blog/2011/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-witness-protection
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