Impact
Objective
To understand the variety of factors contributing to victims and witnesses of severe community violence choosing whether or not to participate in the CLS.
Approach
RTI and our partner organizations are developing survey questionnaires and conducting interviews and focus groups with victims, witnesses, and victim-serving professionals. A systemic literature review is also being conducted to ensure a full picture understanding of the challenges regarding participation in the CLS.
Impact
Outcomes from our study will aim to improve the victim and witness experiences with the CLS, leading to safer communities.
Victims and witnesses of severe violent crimes can experience intimidation from offenders and community members for participating in the criminal legal system (CLS), giving them the perception that it isn’t safe for them to testify in court or speak with the police about the crime. In many communities, the intimidation and danger that victims and witnesses experience by participating in the CLS occurs in combination with negative attitudes of the police and general community opposition to sharing information with law enforcement. However, the court systems might have trouble holding offenders accountable without CLS participation from victims and witnesses, resulting in a lack of justice being served. The challenges that law enforcement and prosecutors experience in gaining the participation of victims and witnesses in cases of severe community violence highlights the need for more research in this area.
To address this issue, our team is conducting a project with multiple key objectives:
- Better understanding victim and witness participation in the CLS,
- Improving knowledge of the current programs and practices that exist to support victim and witness engagement with the CLS, and
- Identifying programs and practices for enhancing victim and witness experiences with the CLS to promote their engagement.
It is also important to understand what CLS agencies are currently doing to address victim and witness concerns about participating in the CLS and how well these align with victim and witness needs.
Collaborating with partners to understand criminal legal system participation factors
With support from Arnold Ventures and in partnership with Dr. Caterina Roman, Temple University; John Wilkinson, esq., AEquitas; , Pastor Jim Summey, High Point Community Against Violence, AEquitas; Pastor Harrod Emmanuel Clay Jr., Difference Makers Global Church Inc.; and Detective Keith Quick, and Families of the Unsolved Murders Project, RTI is conducting interviews and focus groups with victims, witnesses, and victim-serving professionals and organizations, including law enforcement, prosecutors, and community-based service providers, to better understand and document the universe of factors that impact victim and witness participation across different stages of the CLS. We are also performing a systematic literature review of the factors that relate to victim and witness decision-making about whether to participate in the CLS in cases of severe community violence. To develop the survey questionnaires, the project is conducting interviews and focus groups with municipal law enforcement agencies and state prosecutors’ offices across the country. We are also collecting information on programs and policies related to victim and witness participation in the CLS from municipal law enforcement agencies and state prosecutor’s offices.
Improving the victim and witness experience
The findings from this study will provide important information to multiple audiences about the reasons witnesses of severe community violence choose to participate or not at various stages of the CLS. By providing detailed evidence to CLS organizations and their partners about how to increase victim and witness participation in the CLS following severe acts of violent crime, the project aims to improve victim and witness experiences with the CLS, increase levels of CLS participation, and increase offender accountability, which could ultimately result in safer communities.
A full report on study outcomes will be published when the project is complete.
