The Strength of a Witness: Empowerment and Resiliency in the Aftermath of Atrocity

• Main Author: McKay, Melissa
• Other Authors: Meernik, James
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2016
• Subjects: tribunal; witness; trauma; criminal; victim; emotional; PTSD
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc955046/

Victims and witnesses that testify before an international criminal tribunal such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) willingly subject themselves to scrutiny and bare their wounds before the world. Does this experience cause these vulnerable individuals undue psychological harm, re-traumatization, or worse? Existing literature indicates this may be the case, however using a new dataset I find the opposite to be true. Witnesses at the ICTY report feeling more positive than negative after their experiences on the stand. As the first systematic study on witness mental wellbeing, these findings contradict expectations found in previous research.