Comparative Analysis of Witness Protection in Common Law Countries: Challenges and their Potential Solutions

Abstract

Every country aims at reduction of its crime rate and to get this outcome, there comes up a need to castigate the criminals and set up examples in such a manner that it creates a fear in the mind of those who think of perpetrating it. For setting up such examples, the criminals need to be penalized in a just and fair manner. The outcome of every fair trial which takes place in a criminal proceeding is completely based upon the testimony of a witness. A judge cannot conclude a case without the backing of a witness. A witness acts as his strongest and sole pillar of some cases in the court. However, there are various factors such as the matters of life and death which necessitate the witness to turn hostile during a trial. This hostility further results in the miscarriage of justice. Countries like India, U.K & U.S.A have failed in their attempts to protect the witnesses during a trial and hence they came up with certain statutes which are a step forward towards the protection of witnesses. The authors in this paper shall firstly discuss the definition of a ‘witness’ given by various authors and books. Secondly, the authors shall deal with the importance and need for protecting the witness in the current scenario. Thirdly, the authors shall state certain aspects which state as to why and in what situations do a witness turns hostile. Fourthly, a comparative analysis of the existing statutes and new steps that have been taken by countries like India, the U.K, and the U.S.A to protect the witnesses during a trial. Lastly, the author shall conclude the paper by giving suggestions and recommendations for improvements in this field of law.

Keywords: Criminals, Witness, Trial, Hostile, Justice, Statutes