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Victim Impact Statement Examples

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A perfect example is the use of victim impact statements. They allow those close to victims to express the emotions of vengeance and hatred for the criminal in a more free, organic way than is possible during the strict regular court proceedings.
Regardless of how the statements affect the result, the injured individuals have a platform to state their feelings and the unstated consequences of the crime without worrying about getting the facts right or making good eye contact with the jury. Even though victim impact statements are recorded by a court reporter and heard by a jury, they are a very personal way for those who are hurting to directly tell the person responsible how his actions impacted them. This can be more healing, in many cases, …show more content…

Girard noted the connection in primitive sacrifices: “the more critical the situation, the more ‘precious’ the sacrificial victim must be” (18). In the judicial system, the sympathy for certain kinds of victims that VIS invokes can lead to harsher punishments. For example, few people would not be affected by the VIS made by the grandmother in the murder case Girard cited, describing how her grandson, Nicholas, “cries for his mom. He doesn’t understand why she doesn’t come home … he comes to me during the week and asks me, Grandma, do you miss my Lacie?” (814). The sympathy that statement creates could quickly turn into a thirst for justice in the form of revenge, leading to a harsher punishment. The more heinous the crime, the more the community will feel compelled to push back against State procedures that give the defendant a fair trial. To appease the public and give it a “careful measure of satisfaction,” a more severe punishment must be given to match the horror of the crime (21). Hearing how a crime has affected community members allows the jury to properly gauge the punishment needed to maintain the legitimacy of the court. In Girard’s view, upholding the efficacy of the courts is

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

* * * I feel that it would be impossible to ensure that there were the safeguards in place to protect society from your possible actions.” (victim parent, 2002). As empathetic starts, citizens will side with the victims of the defendant’s crimes because they belief the defendant’s crimes were out of evil and cruel torture and deserves all the punishment he can get and not get a break and let back to society where he has the ability to commit potential

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283 Words | 2 Pages

5. Public trials and executions serve as a deterance of deviant behaviors. These sanctions act as a way to set an example and for people to see what will happen to them if they do the same thing, These sanctions can also be seen as reinforcing boundaries. Although public executions and trials in “town square” are not as common in most countries today, the media is utilized to fulfil the same purpose. When there are high profile cases going on in the United States often tmes the full trial and sentancings are televised so that much of society can see what the repercussions are for defying a social norm.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

The trial that takes place within a community is reflective of the community standards. The values of justice and fair trial are of important for the community

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520 Words | 3 Pages

Do the Supreme Court justices of this nation produce any supreme changes in this nation themselves. Gerald R. Rosenberg believes he has found the answer to be a resounding no. In his book "The Hollow Hope: can the courts bring about social change?" Rosenberg contends that it’s nearly impossible to generate significant reforms through litigation, except with a fairly specific set of conditions and constrains met. Gerald attempts to use evidence to prove the American supreme court is more ineffective

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

From a utilitarian perspective, the potential deterrent effect of capital punishment is questionable, as research has shown that it does not significantly reduce crime rates (Equal Justice Initiative, 2023). Instead, it perpetuates a cycle of violence and retribution that undermines the ultimate goal of

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2954 Words | 12 Pages

Marilyn Armour and Mike Umbreit suggest, “Moreover, it may be assumed that receiving the ultimate penal sanction gives control back to survivors, allows them to move on, ends the ordeal, and confirms that bad things happen to people who do bad things, which denies the operation of chance and redeems the victim as a person of value” (Armour, Umbreit 396). This quote is significant because it suggests that the death penalty can be effective in helping the victims of a crime in many ways. Like mentioned in the quote, it can allow for victims to move on, feel like the whole ordeal has come to a close, and even to feel as though a sense of karma was inflicted. Samuel R. Gross and Daniel J. Matheson suggests, “In some cases, victims' relatives explain the relief they feel after the execution in apparently concrete terms: Now the defendant is no longer a threat to them or to anybody else” (Gross, Matheson 490). This is important because, like mentioned previously, the death penalty can help the victims or their families in so many ways.

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616 Words | 3 Pages

Emotional trauma the victim has experienced or is still experiencing after the crime, mental Trauma such as PTS disorder or depression. Financial problems the victim has suffered from the crime, paying for hospital bills or retrieval of stolen items if crime involved theft. And finally socially, how has the crime impacted the victims social life, are they afraid to go out? Normal activities are now a struggle, life has been completely altered. Victim impact statements can assist the court proceedings with how the crime impacted on the victim, the personal circumstances of the victim and any injury or loss as a result of the crime committed against the victim (victimsofcrime.gov.au, 2015).

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891 Words | 4 Pages

When a criminal is publicly humiliated they feel as if it's them versus the world because it their actions being brought to people's attention to recognize. The thoughts of other usually takes a toll on a person and they can start to feel overwhelmed. Feeling like this brings them to a place where they feel as the scapegoat. Feeling in distress, results in overload of anxiety, sorrow, and pain that the public should not endure. This can cause a criminal's self-esteem to lower due to the constant reminders of one’s offense.

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673 Words | 3 Pages

For example, the parole and supervised release committee must take into consideration the victims opinion when considering a offenders release, thus limiting the boards ability to use it’s discretion on what they may be a more appropriate release date. The goals of the victim-witness program could also potentially limit the prosecutions ability to prosecute the offender for a longer sentence. For example, a victim could potentially want to forgive the offender for the harm they have been cause, therefore, seeking for a more lenient sentence then the prosecution may be seeking, thus constricting the prosecutions

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1266 Words | 6 Pages

The Role of Empathy in the Justice System The justice system plays a very important role in the lives of all American citizens. Though it is known as being a strict set of rules, considerations must be made in order to make sure that justice considers the situation of an individual. With this in mind, many have begun to question the role of empathy in the justice system, and if it should even have a role at all.

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691 Words | 3 Pages

The traditional goals of sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation (Stinchcomb, 2011). A more contemporary goal of criminal sanctions is restorative and community justice (Stinchcomb, 2011). Retribution is founded on the principle that offenders should receive their ‘just desserts’. However, the penalty must be proportionate to the offence committed (Welch, 2004, p.83) Deterrence aims to reduce criminal offending.

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1490 Words | 6 Pages

Particular outcomes may include severity of sentencing, utilised by the judicial sentencing discretion allowing harsher sentencing for more ‘socially-revulsive’ crimes. Magistrates in particular may use their ‘amateur’ position as a ‘popular legitimacy’ to apply public opinions, which subsequently may lead to a harsher view of this type of crime in society. Judicial focus on socially acceptable outcomes at the expense of strict application of legal principles, in a way that not only extends the criminal law but shapes the view of it, demonstrates the clear principle that criminal law is not the sole force at play in

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1253 Words | 6 Pages

And then, quite suddenly, the idea came to me-started by a chance remark...casually mentioned how often murder must be committed which the law was unable to touch,” (Christie 288). By justifying his responsibility of a mass murder, the author offers support to those who believe that every bad deed should not go unpunished. Many may agree that these fictional characters got what they so rightfully

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1540 Words | 7 Pages

The court is mostly concerned with the offender, the crime, and the punishment. It wasn’t until 1976 when Doris Tate presented a victims impact statement in California because she was worried that a member of the Manson family, who murdered her daughter, would obtain parole. California was also the first state to adopt the Victims’ Rights Amendments in 1992. (Neubauer, 2008) After 1992 there was much controversy of victim impact statements.

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2091 Words | 9 Pages

The disadvantage of this approach is the fact that it does not focus on the victim instead it justifies the offender’s actions by regarding them as patients and victims of dysfunctional societies Restitution

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