NCJ Number
74898
Date Published
1977
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This article details the Victim/Witness Assistance Project (V/WAP), an LEAA-funded cooperative program of various county and city components responsible for appearance and management of police and civilian witnesses in Kings County Criminal Court (New York).
Abstract
The Projects main responsibilities are to (1) reduce the number of necessary court appearances required of police and civilian witnesses, (2) assist victims and witnesses with their participation in the court process and in obtaining assistance from other agencies, and (3) mediate by diverting selected cases to a dispute center as an alternative to prosecution in criminal court. The V/WAP's computerized data base is comprised of case, court, and witness contact (feedback) information. As the project became more successful in increasing alerts and excusals, the overall appearance rate either remained the same or decreased to some extent. It had left a greater proportion of less reliable witnesses. However, a nonappearance rate more accurately reflects project effectiveness because it includes not only present witnesses but also alerts, excusals, and must appears. V/WAP operates six services designed to ease the problems most frequently encountered by victims and witnesses. The services are the reception center, services counselor, children's center, and the transportation service. In addition, the Crime Victim Hotline is designed to provide counseling information and referrals to victims of crime in which the criminal has yet been caught, while the Emergency Repair Service can make late night repairs to secure the burglary victims' commercial business. Witness disaffection presents a serious impediment to effective prosecution in large urban jurisdictions. A 'Recommended Immediate Action List' attempts to isolate and identify at the earliest possible stage those cases for which successful prosecution is not probable due to witness attitude. A restitution project has also beem implemented. Tabular data, figures, and footnotes are provided.