Victim Impact In Booth V. Maryland

“Victim impact refers to evidence introduced during the penalty phase of a criminal trial that relates to the personal characteristics of the victim and the emotional impact of the crimes on others.” (Danahoe, 1999). In Booth v Maryland, Booth was charged and convicted with tying up and stabbing a married couple to death. A Victim Impact Statement was allowed during the sentencing trial, which had interviews from the victim’s son, daughter, son-in-law, and goddaughter. Booth was consequently sentenced to the death penalty, even though the prosecutor and not the individuals themselves read the statements Booth believed it heavily impacted the juror’s sentence. The Maryland appeals court rejected Booths claim, stating that the statements made

The court reversed parts of the decision made during Booth v Maryland, allowing victim evidence relating solely to the emotional impact that the crime had on the victims family. The court allowed the victims mother to testify, describing their personal affects that Payne’s actions made not only to her, but to the rest of the family including the victims children, The prosecutor further stated personal information in his closing arguments, stating “no one will ever know about Lacie Jo because she never had the chance to grow uo, her life was taken from her at the age of two ears old.” (Danaoe, 1999). Payne argued that the grandmothers testimony and the prosecutors remarks violated the Eighth Amendment; the court felt the remarks were relevant to Payne’s personal responsibility.
The Supreme Court first endorsed victim impact statements in 1991 during Payne v Tennessee. Since the decision to allow victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing, they have been admissible in every state in the US, with each state following different rules and regulations of what is or is not allowed. Victim evidence statements are not admissible solely in murder trials but in criminal cases across the

This was the beginning of the victim’s right movement and additionally the implantation of legislation that allowed victims to be part of the criminal justice process. Erze E began the “forgotten person” of criminal justice movement, meant to show interest in the affects the crime had on the victims. There are two main arguments that appear from supporters of victim impact statements: “victims will have improved attitudes with the criminal justice system as a while through the use of the victim impact statement and the idea that the statements expose the full amount of harm caused by the crime.” Danhoe,