ABSTRACT
Chapter 2 presents our literature review on victim participation in sentencing. It first outlines the historic role of victims in the adversarial criminal justice system and the development of victims’ rights, including the right to present a victim impact statement. It then examines victim impact statements and the modern role of the victim, as well as the purposes of victim impact statements. The empirical research on impact statements is then reviewed, including in relation to objections to such statements, why victims submit statements, how victims feel after submitting a statement, the specific research on sexual offence victims and their statements, and judicial officers’ acknowledgement of impact statements. This literature review reveals an overarching lack of clarity around the purpose of statements, which affects the information that can be included and the way they can be used by the court, and that research into the impact statement experiences of victims of sexual offending is sparse. It is these gaps that this book begins to fill. We end the chapter with a vignette about Rachel, one of the victims we interviewed.
