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Witness protection is the process in which witnesses, such as those who testify in criminal trial s are protected against intimidation before their testimony or criminal retaliation after. The U.S. Federal Government both relocates and gives new identities to witnesses who risk their lives by giving testimony, and gives states grants to provide similar programs. The federal program is called the U.S. Witness Protection Program.
The purpose is reassure other witnesses that coming forward will not cost them their lives. A Pennsylvania advocate of greater state and federal aid for witness protection, State Representative Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia, says that "Witness protection is really the number one element of victim protection. A key crisis in American criminal law is the large number of unsolved cases existing because of scared or intimidated witnesses."