Yes.
First, of the 8,000 witnesses who have been relocated—and these are federal witnesses, as opposed to state and city witnesses—there was a recidivism rate of less than 18%. I can't be more precise, because each person I called to check on the recidivism rate told me a different number. The highest was 18%. The lowest number—from the happiest person I talked to—was 11%. So there's recidivism of somewhere between 11% and 18% among the 8,000 people.
That may come about in part because of the procedure we follow in entering the witnesses into the program. First, we have a separate office in the United States Department of Justice called the Office of Enforcement Operations, which has a witness security unit that determines who shall or shall not enter into the federal witness protection program.
The judgment is based upon a significant amount of information they receive from a variety of people, one of whom is a psychologist, who examines each potential witness recommended by the federal investigative agency, and every member of the family over the age of 18, to determine whether or not the witness is likely to commit a violent act, how well they would fit within the program, whether they'd be able to follow the rules given to them, what sort of employment they would need, and what their skills are and such. So a thorough psychological examination is given.
There is some difficulty as to whether or not you can truly predict violence in an individual through psychological testing. On occasion, I felt that my own gut reaction was as good as the test.
Also, we receive the previous arrest record of the individual. We also receive a report from the United States attorney. The United States has 93 United States attorneys, who are the chief federal law enforcement officers in their districts. So we get a report from them about the case and the witness and his or her background.
Then we have the United States Marshals Service do the actual relocating of the witness. Because of their role, they have the opportunity to interview the witness and his family beforehand, in what we call a preliminary interview, and they give us their opinion as to whether or not this witness will function properly after relocation. So we also have the benefit of that.
We have the benefit of resident experience, the people in the Office of Enforcement Operations who have worked so often in this that they have reactions to it and such.
Of those factors, I think the screening factor is a very important factor in determining what happens afterwards.
Finally, we notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation of every witness we relocate, so there is a record. And if any local law enforcement agency were to make an inquiry about a person under a new name, they would immediately know from the FBI that the person is someone else. I think that is a deterrent for the witness.