Victim Impact Statement (VIS) Legislation

895 Words2 Pages

ACR203 Policy Presentation

Victim Impact Statement (VIS) legislation allows victims of crime the right to share a written or oral explanation about what effect the crime has had emotionally, physically, financially and socially in their lives (Victims of Crime, 2012). However, the right can only be exercised if the defendant is found guilty or pleads guilty to a crime. The legislation also includes rules around what content can be included and age restrictions to who can present a VIS. According to the Department of Justice (2014), a VIS cannot be presented by a victim of crime under eighteen years of age. However, a parent or guardian is able to present the impact of the crime to the minor’'s life in court instead. Victims are also unable …show more content…

A common issue victims have faced in the CJS is feelings of neglect towards their victimization. Other than testifying, they have little involvement in the system (doj, 2014; victims of crime, 2012). In 1979, South Australia launched a committee of enquiry into Victims of crime and their needs. They reported back with recommendations in 1981, including the use of victim impact statements (Erez, Roeger & O’Connell, 1994). The right to give a VIS aims to address the victim'’s problem through acknowledging victims and their involvement in the crime (aic, 1994), as well as allowing them to share information they could not disclose through testifying. Through the statements, the court is able to take into account the effect, adjusting the severity of the punishment to accommodate for the level of suffering and pain victims face at the hands of the offender. Retribution is thus, theoretically more proportionate to the victim’'s suffering (Victims of Crime, 2012), achieving the sentencing outcome of just punishment. This is also a way to increase a victim'’s ability to be involved in the case, with the aim of reducing feelings of neglect as a result (doj, 2014; Erez, …show more content…

The victim's ability to convey emotion to the court allows for the effect of the offender'’s actions on the community to be brought to attention, allowing the sentence increasingly reflect the communities’ response to the crime and achieve the sentencing outcomes of just punishment and community protection (victims support agency, 2009). Despite fears that a VIS may result in a disproportionately harsh sentences, research suggests that VIS allow for the court to be more proportionate. After the introduction of VIS in South Australia, studies did not reveal any significant increase in sentence length or prison sentence as a result of a VIS (victims support agency, 2009). Findings also suggest that judges find VIS useful in deciding the amount of retribution to sentence the defendant to. A victim support agency (2009) study found that in Australia, two-thirds of judges felt that there were certain offences where a VIS was a useful source of information in sentencing, including physical and sexual

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