YOU Wednesday Watch On InjustIce YOU

Bill Bastuk Jeffrey Deskovic

Editor

Dannielle Hille

08 August 2012
vol. 2/No 63

IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

President ICH/Y

Communications Coordinator

Federal Legislation Proposed to Protect Witnesses

Past Wednesday Watch articles have discussed how faulty witness identification practices and the inability to produce credible witnesses may result in an innocent individual being falsely charged and convicted of a crime. Furthermore the true perpetrator often remains free and may commit other serious crimes including murder. One reason why a witness may be unwilling to come forward after a crime is the fear of retaliation. It Could Happen to You acknowledges the recent effort by US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) with a recently proposed law. The State Witness Protection Act, co-sponsored by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), aims for the first time to make witness intimidation a federal crime and strengthens penalties for those who attempt to prevent a witness from testifying in a court of law. The proposed legislation would increase the maximum penalty to 30 years in prison in cases of attempted murder or physical violence against a witness, and increase the maximum sentence to 20 years in jail for other types of witness intimidation, like obstruction of justice. (Schumer, 2012) In many cities there is a strong no-snitch culture in which fear of retaliation inhibits cooperation and leaves serious crimes unsolved. For example in Rochester, New York on the evening of June 8th, a 20-year-old male was shot and killed in a well traveled street in his neighborhood. The police have been stymied by the lack of cooperation of the people they believe saw the incident but have refused to come forward out of fear of the entrenched criminal element that operates in the neighborhood. This element routinely intimidates residents from cooperating with the police. (Schumer, 2012) Protection for witnesses is crucial to the prosecution of the true perpetrator of a crime and the defense of the falsely accused. Click HERE to read the entire press release by Senator Schumer for the State Witness Protection Act.

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Officers- Bill Bastuk- Founder Roseanne Corrigan- Vice President Steering Committee- Paul LaBarber- Art Directions, Etc. Alice Green- Center for Law and Justice Melanie Trimble- NYCLU Gabriel Sayegh- Drug Policy Alliance NY Lisa Schreibersdorf- Brooklyn Defender Services Don Thompson- ETKS Defense Pam Booker- Prison Families of NY Jeffrey Deskovic- The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation For Justice David Kaczynski- New Yorkers for Alternatives to the Death Penalty