Unintended Victims Of Organized Crime Witness Protection

Abstract

This paper addresses unintended victimization which has resulted from the United States government's policy of protecting organized crime witnesses. Forms that unintended victimization take are described in the context of various court cases against the United States of America in which the victims (complainants) identify themselves and state their grievances. These cases demonstrate that criminal justice policy makers should be concerned about the negative consequences of their policy, and especially that their policy does not abrogate the constitutional rights of citizens and hence victimize them. More generally, this study of the government's decision to protect organized crime witnesses demonstrates that criminal justice policy is in a constant state of flux and that policy makers must be confronted with negative consequences of their policy before they react. This study also demonstrates that there are unforeseen and often unintended consequences of criminal justice policy, that we still operate much on a trial and error basis, and that reasonableness is the measuring rod of sound criminal justice policy.