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Author Topic: Witness Protection Program  (Read 1885 times)

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seanachi

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Witness Protection Program
« on: May 19, 2008, 02:12:00 PM »

So I'm in the planning stages of my current WIP and trying to make some decisions about my heroine's situation.  In the backstory she discovers that the company for whom she works is a front for some serious drug trafficking.  I'm fairly certain she enters WITSEC, and I'm working on researching the program (obviously not easy to do since they don't want that info out there for nefarious parties to find).  I've ordered the book by Shur, but it hasn't arrived yet and I'm kicking around various possibilities.  Anybody know what sort of stuff would get her kicked out of the program besides contacting someone from her old life, committing some sort of crime, or flat walking away? ???
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T.E. Lawrence:  All people dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recess of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are the dangerous people, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.

Q

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Re: Witness Protection Program
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2008, 09:15:24 PM »

 Slightly surprising, but a search led to this link:

http://people.howstuffworks.com/witness-protection.htm

It may help

Q
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JIM DOHERTY

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Re: Witness Protection Program
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2008, 11:43:37 PM »

Seanachi,

Re your question below:

So I'm in the planning stages of my current WIP and trying to make some decisions about my heroine's situation.  In the backstory she discovers that the company for whom she works is a front for some serious drug trafficking.  I'm fairly certain she enters WITSEC, and I'm working on researching the program (obviously not easy to do since they don't want that info out there for nefarious parties to find).  I've ordered the book by Shur, but it hasn't arrived yet and I'm kicking around various possibilities.  Anybody know what sort of stuff would get her kicked out of the program besides contacting someone from her old life, committing some sort of crime, or flat walking away? ???

Two points.  First, she's not a professional criminal.  The Witness Protection Program was originally set up so that Organized Crime figures who testified against their former colleagues could be given new identities that would keep them safe from reprisals.

Non-criminals are less likely to need to go into the program, because there's not the perception on the part of those she testified against that she's guilty of betrayal.  She'd be subject to threats and intimidation up to the time she actually testified, but after her testimony's on record, OC figures (at least traditional Cosa Nostra types) would probably find that killing her in reprisal would do more harm than good.  I'm not saying she would never go into Witness Protection. She might be testifying against another, less stable OC group than the Mob (Eastern European gangsters, Columbian drug cartel members, outlaw bikers, etc.), for example.  Just that there might not be as much of a perceived need.

Second, she might not want to go into the program.  To a professional criminal, the chance to start all over again fresh might have a certain appeal.  An honest person is far less likely to want to cut off all ties to her past life.

Third, if she was in the program, the main thing that would get her cut off would be lying.  Remember, the program was set up with professional criminals turning state's evidence in mind.  Witness protection, like granting immunity from prosecution, is one of the bargaining chips designed to induce the witness to testify truthfully.  If the witness breaks the agreement by witholding information, or telling outright lies, than all bets are off.  Not only is a new identity no longer part of the deal, neither is immunity from prosecution.  Your character has no reason to lie, and no deliberate criminal activity that the authorities can hold over her head.

Finally, if she did decide to go into witness protection (and some non-criminal witnesses have decided to take this option), she'd be basically on her own once her testimony was given, the case concluded, and her new life started.  The government sets the witness up in a new identity, gives her instructions on security, relocates her to a new home, etc.  It's not like they have a deputy marshal living with her to give her constant protection.  The government would keep loose contact with her, but there woudn't be constant protection, like she was the president.  The deal is she'd get a new life; it would be up to her to live it.  And if, for one reason or another, she did fail to follow instructions to the letter, it's not like the government would seize upon this as an excuse to "out" her.   

seanachi

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Re: Witness Protection Program
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2008, 11:53:43 AM »

Thanks Jim!  That's putting my mind at ease on a few plot points I've not been able to verify through research.  :D
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T.E. Lawrence:  All people dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recess of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are the dangerous people, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.
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