NCJ Number
76094
Date Published
1979
Length
53 pages
Annotation
This paper analyzes the effects of three activities of the Victim/Witness Assistance Project (V/WAP) of New York's Brooklyn Criminal Court; each of the activities involves a systematic effort to alter decisionmaking in the court by providing a particular type of information.
Abstract
V/WAP was a comprehensive program designed to address the needs of victims and witnesses in Brooklyn Criminal Court. The program was administered by the Vera Institute during the study, but it was subsequently absorbed within New York City's Victim Services Agency. This report considers the program's effects on the decisionmaking activities of the courtroom prosecutor, prosecutors' supervisors, and the court. For example, when V/WAP was able to inform courtroom prosecutors that a civilian witness, absent from court on a hearing date, was interested in prosecuting and willing to come to court another time, the information enabled prosecutors more frequently to overcome defense motions to dismiss. This effect was strongest in cases which otherwise would have been the most likely to be dismissed. Also, cases with chronically uncooperative witnesses reached disposition twice as quickly when V/WAP informed prosecutors' supervisors that the witnesses could never be expected to appear in court. When V/WAP provided information about police witnesses' duty schedules, the court more often avoided adjournment of cases to police witnesses' regular days off. This result was significant because adjournments to dates when officers are unavailable for duty usually result in further adjournments and wasted court appearances by other parties. These positive effects suggest that V/WAP has achieved credibility as a supplier of information about prosecution witnesses. Tables, 8 references, and appendixes describing V/WAP and presenting about 45 references are included. (Author abstract modified)