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Prosecution Intimidation And Witness Intimidation

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There are many reasons victims do no want to testify in court. Legal cynicism and witness intimidation are a couple of the top reasons. One reason I feel is overlooked is witness intimidation. Witness Intimidation is when threats are made by defendants to discourage victims or witnesses of a crime from reporting or testifying. (Connick and Davis 439) If a victim feels threatened, they often become hesitant to testify sometimes even to report the crime. With the right incentives, victims and witnesses would be more likely to participate in the process of testifying against a defendant.
Witness intimidation happens in many forms, such as: looks, threats of violence, physical violence, property damage, etc. “If you commit a crime, you will …show more content…

These programs are still new in the eyes of the justice system. “Victims and witnesses receiving help were more likely to appear when summoned than those who had not been aided.” (Neubauer and Fradella 236) Victims who are testifying against a defendant are authorized to receive protection, whether inside or outside of court.
There are services provided to protect the victims or witnesses. When waiting in the courtroom, they are entitled to a special waiting room, away and out of sight from the defendant and the defendant’s friends and family. By separating the defendant from the victims and witnesses, it lessens the change of intimidation within the courtroom. Even victims and witnesses that are incarcerated have the option and availability to be separated from others to keep them safe. By separating from certain groups, gangs are not able to finish hits on a victim or witness.
Another way to keep a victim or witness in testifying is ensuring that everyone coming in and out of the courthouse will be on video surveillance. By taping everyone coming into the courthouse, hopefully it would discourage any intimidation within the courthouse. Also by having surveillance, it would give the victims and witnesses a sense of security, knowing that anybody coming near them in the courthouse is on camera.
One program to motivate victims to participate in testifying helps with compensating the victims or witnesses. During the process of the trial and even before when

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