Witness protection and victims of crime

Abstract

Crime affects all of us. Thousands of people, young and old, find themselves victims of or witnesses to crime each year. Witnesses are the key players in any successful prosecution in order that justice is done. This consequently highlights the need for effective witness protection and victims' rights legislation. This thesis will deal with the notion of witness protection afforded to those willing to testify, including victims of crime, in a broad sense. Chapter one introduces the concept of a protected witness and the differences of a witness' position at law in various legal systems, while stressing upon the importance of the witness' role in criminal cases. Although witness protection is practically synonymous with the American criminal justice system, the need for witness protection is also felt in Malta. Malta may not be a crime-infested country, but neither is it totally crime-free! In a 1996 survey carried out by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute Malta rated 9th globally with the highest percentage of crime victims. The world weighted average stood at 21.3%. Keeping in mind that crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime than actual prevalence, Malta had an annual mean percentage of 31.1 victimised persons out of the entire Maltese population; thus amounting to approximately 90,000 victims annually according to UNICRI. The provision of witness protection in the Maltese legal scenario will be discussed in Chapter two. A thorough examination of existing protective measures under current domestic legislation will be made, in terms of the Police Act, Criminal Code, Probation Act, Domestic Violence Act and the Commissioner for Children Act, as well as any suggestions which will be expanded on in the concluding chapter concerning proposals for reform. An analysis of the U.S., Scottish and German positions on witness protection is made in Chapter three, while Chapter 4 provides a wider overview of witness protection existing in a vast number of countries, ranging from our neighbouring country Italy to distant Japan and Australia, among others. The importance of protection afforded to the more vulnerable class of witnesses, the child witness is discussed in Chapter 5. The legal position of the child witness is examined under a number of jurisdictions- ranging from current domestic legislation to the ICC rules at international law, highlighting the significance of the use of video taped evidence in the case of child testimonies, the role of support persons and intermediaries of support persons for child witnesses as we11 as other protective measures afforded to children when their testimonies are required in a criminal trial. Chapter six deals with the notion of witness co-operation among countries, paying particular attention to the European Convention on Human Rights, while also discussing the need for effective witness protection in the prosecution of traffickers. Lastly, proposals for reform to current Maltese legislation on witness protection are discussed, so that the protection afforded to victims and witnesses in general is strengthened further, thus being more in line with other jurisdictions.