| Over the years, witness security programs have developed sophisticated practices from a safe place as the only effective means of protection for the change of identity of threatened witnesses and their relocation to a new place. The success of those operations has had a positive impact on obtaining vital evidence and made witness security a significant factor in struggles to fight effectively against organized crime and terrorism. That is also why Turkey, along with the other countries, established its own witness security program, similar to WITSEC. Yet, although it has been defended arduously by the law enforcement agencies and prosecutors as one of the most valuable tools used against organized crime in the US, there is widespread criticism of the program by some scholars and the media.;This research is exploratory in nature. In this context, there is one primary question brought forward: What is the impact of the witness security program on the fight against organized crime and terrorism? In order to better explore the primary research question, the following sub-research questions are examined: (a) what can be done to use the witness security program as an effective tool in the fight against cross-national terrorism and transnational organized crime? (b) How is the witness security program of Turkey differentiated from WITSEC in the context of structure, and how much influence might it have on its own criminal justice system in the future?;Based on key personnel interview data and other open data sources, the research of this study demonstrates that states need protection programs; but, after examining the robustness of the decision-making process for witness participation, it seems that this decision-making process requires a change of thinking, and therefore an urgent evaluation by the governments. It means that the witness security program should not be employed in every case when alternative measures are sufficient to protect the witness. To some extent, its success only comes after completing all the stages forming the control policy. These are preventive methods that are considered by some more important than combating measures. |
