Mobile Newsletter banner close. Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. Legal System. How Witness Protection Works. Courtesy United States Marshals Service. Contents Who's Eligible? Who's Eligible? Courtesy U. United States Marshals Service provides security, health, safety of non-incarcerated program participants U.
Department of Justice: Office of Enforcement Operations OEO - authorizes the admission into the program of witnesses whose lives are in danger as a result of their testimony against drug traffickers, terrorists, organized crime members or other major criminals Federal Bureau of Prisons BOP - maintains custody of incarcerated witnesses.
Any offense defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1 , which covers organized crime and racketeering Any drug trafficking offense described in Title 21, United States Code Any other serious, Federal felony for which a witness may provide testimony that may subject the witness to retaliation by violence or threats of violence Any State offense that is similar in nature to those set forth above Certain civil and administrative proceedings in which testimony given by a witness may place the safety of that witness in jeopardy.
Criminal records Alternatives to witness protection Testimony from other potential witnesses. Prisoner Witnesses. Falling Off the Face of Earth The Witness Security Program is designed to create total anonymity for witnesses and help them blend into a new city where they most likely won't be recognized. Financial Obligations. Read More.
Testifying " ". Photo courtesy www. Living the New Life One of the key objectives of the Witness Security Program is to help witnesses assimilate into their new communities and become self-sufficient. Breaking the Law in The Program " ".
Photo courtesy Amazon. History of the Program " ". The U. Marshals Service Witness Security Program also known as WITSEC protects witnesses and their dependents who are in danger because of testimonies they provide against terrorists and major criminals. Those witnesses are relocated, given new identities and provided security by the U.
How much do people who are in witness protection get paid? Is the witness protection program successful? According to the U. Marshalls Service, WITSEC has protected about 19, participants since the program began in , including innocent victim-witnesses and cooperating defendants and their family members. None have been harmed or killed while under the active protection of the U.
What happens after someone is put in witness protection? They receive help in finding employment and a new place to live. Department of Justice. The U. Marshals Service provides for the security, health and safety of government witnesses, and their immediate dependents, whose lives are in danger as a result of their testimony against drug traffickers, terrorists, organized crime members and other major criminals. The Witness Security Program has successfully protected approximately 19, participants — including innocent victim-witnesses and cooperating defendants and their dependent family members — from intimidation and retribution since the program began in So best, perhaps, to ask for Omaha and hope for Honolulu.
Do you have unusual questions about how things work and why stuff happens? This is the place to ask them. Nobody will laugh at you here. Want more Popular Mechanics? Get Instant Access! In defending the program, leaders of WITSEC pointed out, among other exonerating factors, that Pruett would have been paroled even without entering the program and that knowing his identity likely could not have prevented the murders.
But the Pruett situation always represented a potential outcome of what can easily be seen as an insane idea: placing former criminals, many of them feared mob bosses, drug lords, or hitmen whose testimony allowed them to avoid prison, anonymously in small towns across the country. Yet the program survives because situations like the Pruett tragedy appear to be rare. With deteriorated skills and the scarlet letter of a prison sentence, finding employment can be impossible.
Many prisoners also leave prison hundreds or thousands of dollars in debt to the state for court fees and the expense of being supervised by the state. A criminal record can also keep individuals from receiving public housing or assistance like food stamps. And returning to an old environment can make it easy to fall back into crime. Shur and his colleagues, however, recognized that helping witnesses achieve a stable living would help keep them safe. The program provides living stipends for the transition and helps pay for housing.
A WITSEC inspector checks in regularly with families, often talking every week, teaching former mobsters or gang members basic financial literacy and other skills. Sometimes inspectors can even invest in the family, like one inspector who secured funding for a used car for a family that needed one to get to a new job.
A new identity, which so many relocated families struggle with, also has the benefit of giving witnesses a truly fresh start. The aforementioned New York Times profile relates one success story. Away from the environment in which he sold drugs, the witness, Brewster, excels at saving part of his paycheck from the job the relocation officer helped him find until the two can afford a 3 bedroom home.
The Witness Protection Program is an imperfect data point as a rehabilitation program. The Marshals Service reserves the right to throw witnesses out of the program if they commit a crime, so witnesses have a strong incentive to play by the rules. It would also be difficult to defend the government treating every released prisoner this way given that so many Americans without a criminal record struggle against poverty every day.
In popular culture, the Witness Protection Program has an aura of mystery. When protected witnesses commit crimes after their relocation, WITSEC officials and employees often ask if they could have foreseen and prevented it. But despite all the interviews and screening every witness and his or her family undergoes before relocation, it seems impossible to know. Our next article explores how two statisticians solved a year-old mystery about Alexander Hamilton.
A version of this article first appeared on Priceonomics on August 4, Learn how to create content marketing that performs.
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