THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS: A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF MURDER VICTIMS

AUTHOR: AARYANSH AGRAWAL, CHRIST ACADEMY INSTITUTE OF LAW

ABSTRACT

This study uses a multi-perspective approach to hermeneutical phenomenology to analyze victim impact statements (VIS) from family members of murder victims. Three interpretations of 78 statements show how murder affects individuals, families, and society. level. This innovative tri-layered hermeneutical method highlights significant contrasts between reading about an abstract human and that of a murder victim's mother, sister, or son. Historical context, such as colonization or gang activity, enriches the hermeneutic cycle and clarifies the experiences in these narratives. The investigation was guided by questions like what is being communicated in VIS. Authors might discuss murder as a phenomenon. The accounts provide light on the discriminatory nature of murder in the Canadian prairie urban context, where Indigenous people make up 18% of the population yet account for 50% of homicide victims. The purpose of the study was to identify the major loopholes in the victim impact statement and what are the legal implications in the process of victim impact statement, and what the families of the victims, be it a son, mother, or father.

KEYWORDS: victim impact statements, murder victims, families, society, narratives and investigation etc.

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

He cries for his mom, and he doesn’t seem to understand why she doesn’t come home. He also cries for his sister, Lacie. He comes to me many times during the week and asks me, "Grandma, do you miss my Lacie?" I tell him yes. He says, "I am worried about my Lacie."

Mother of a murder victim, in her victim impact statement.

Being a victim of a murder or witnessing the murder of a close one or a family member is the toughest job in the world to do, and it's also one of the worst positions that an individual can put himself in. The meaning of the term victim impact statement is a written or oral statement provided by a victim of a crime to the court, detailing how the crime has affected their life, including physical and emotional harm. More than that, to put into words the description of the crime, how it happened, and to answer all the surrounding questions is an uphill ask from a person who has seen a murder with naked eyes or the person who has directly been affected by it.

The establishment of the justice system is done to deliver justice to all sections of people or any classes of people. The victims of the murder or their families have a basic expectation that is of justice. When we talk about the VIS as an effective tool, it must also be understood that the loss of a person or Homicidal loss is not a point to be explained, but still, the family survivors try to the best of their abilities to convince others. The narratives produced in the Victim Impact Statement often share a guiding light on the pains and sorrows that the loved ones or the survivors have to go through. The majority of these sorts of experiences happen behind closed doors.

The VIS collected for this study was provided to the court for the sentencing hearing of those guilty of murdering a loved one. VIS contains rare insights into the firsthand experience of how murder affects a family.

NATURE OF VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

The victim impact statements in itself are very paradoxical as the enforceability of such statements is very unclear. The survivors, in the eyes of the law, are not being addressed as proper victims. The VIS is a legal tool used by Crown attorneys to provide sentencing recommendations to the court. Victims of violent crime are presented with an opportunity to participate in the legal system, but the specifics are unclear. The VIS are Legal, and scholarly studies suggest that these outlets can be useful for communicating with families of murder victims, but their impact on punishment remains uncertain. According to some scholars, the impact and purpose of the victim impact statements are not really up to the mark, as the victim impact statements submitted by the court should fit within the parameters of the justice system that align with a claim quantifiable mentality. Individuals often attach written tales to forms due to space limitations for physical, emotional, and financial impact. Participants who fill out the questionnaires contribute significant insights about the phenomenon being studied. For nearly four decades, victims' families have done their best to fill out the necessary documents. In contrast to the declared goal in the VIS forms, 76.6% of VIS focused on the characteristics of the deceased victim. Only 9.4% of VIS reported bodily impact, 3.6% financial, and 26.6% overall.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Victim Impact statements, in the general sense, often confuse people regarding their approach in seeking justice from the perspective of the parties. Its paradoxical nature and the less representation of the people’s emotions and the mental, emotional, and financial toll that it has on the loved ones or the murder victims makes it more unreliable and more inefficient leading to a complete mockery of justice.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

A position in which a victim is the worst position one can be in. To describe the murder, telling minute-to-minute details of the day and about the incident is not an easy task. It takes a lot of courage and resilience to open up on such things, but still, the people do it in the form of victim impact statements. But the victim impact statements clearly show a different lens, and people’s emotions, the physical and mental trauma, and the feelings that they have to go through completely turned a deaf ear questioning the purpose and objective of the victim impact statement.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

To understand what is being said in the victim statements.
To analyze the utilization of the victim impact statements.
To understand the nature of victim impact statements in assisting with the phenomenon of murder.

HYPOTHESIS

Victim impact statements are a useful tool but the inclusion of people’s experiences makes it more reliable.

BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

Legal experts and academics have criticized victim impact statements for prioritizing pain over facts, undercutting defendant rights, and exploiting victims for personal gain. The prosecution argued that enabling victim voices in adversarial courts could lead to "victim prostitution" by using emotional distress to circumvent legal limits. In U.S. states with a capital penalty, VIS carries life-or-death consequences. There were many concerns about including testimonials from homicide survivors stemming from an oversimplification of their pain and psychiatric state based on little research. Survivors of homicide often experience emotional trauma, psychiatric symptoms, and interruptions in their lives as a result of the act. The scientific literature on post-homicide VIS is restricted to American research on capital cases. Most of these studies focus on the legal utility and probable repercussions of VIS, with few investigating the content itself. Although there are some qualitative assessments of the statements, they are undertaken via a victim-service perspective, focusing on psychological problems related to homicide bereavement.

The concept of victim participation is important to victimology. In a research area centered on victim satisfaction and procedural justice ideas, it is unexpected that those who are most directly affected do not receive equal participation. Victims of homicide have received insufficient attention. On one hand, VIS is considered the victim's territory to convey the harm they have experienced. However, the VIS aims to present a specific narrative through a prosecution-filed item. VIS has a significant role in the criminal justice system, but in practice, it has little impact. The court determines the defendant's guilt or innocence and imposes appropriate penalties. The penalty falls inside a set range that takes into account various aspects, including the severity of the crime, criminal history, and regret. Victim impact, among other aggravating factors, is listed as a plus. Nothing more—just weighed against the things in the minus column. As the severity of the offense and sentence grows, the importance of aggravating and mitigating elements decreases. In a first-degree murder conviction, the judge has no discretion. In Canada, the sentence is life with a 25-year parole eligibility period. For second-degree murder, parole eligibility ranges from 10 to 25 years. Manslaughter carries a life sentence with parole eligibility after 7-10 years. There is no minimum term.

According to Roberts & Erez (2004), VIS facilitates communication between victims and offenders while also recognizing victims as the wounded party. "The expressive function more properly represents the victim's original purpose. The impact statement suggests that it may provide a restorative approach to combative procedures. Victim impact statements aim to overcome the exclusion of victims from legal processes that affect them and their families. By including impact as an auxiliary injury in the punishment for the primary and the inclusion of victims in the criminal justice system as a means of expression is questioned, despite its legal recognition.

Myers (2018) conducted the most widely referenced study on VIS content in the United States. A longitudinal study analyzed 192 sentencing transcripts from 75 capital cases (from an existing list of killings) to assess wrath and retribution among victims' families. Myers et al. (2018) observed that individuals who completed VIS experienced higher levels of anger compared to those who did not. This supports Lens's (2015) result that "VIS offers no direct therapeutic effects" (p. 27), mirroring Erez's (2004) findings. Myers quotes a 2009 U.S. study that used 42 trial transcripts from 1991-1998, including 80 VIS and found a recurring and strong focus on victim character, particularly personality.

GAPS IN RESEARCH

Twenty years later, little has changed. While loss and trauma are undoubtedly present in the lives of those affected by murder, they are not the only or even the main topic of discussion in VIS. Connolly and Gordon's (2015) literature analysis on co-victims of homicide highlights gaps in understanding the social implications of murder and how it affects different family members. Dufour (2021) highlights Women face higher costs of victimization than men (Johnston et al 2018), but gender disparities in the experience have not been adequately addressed.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted for the current paper is the qualitative research design. The methods and tools used for data collection are empirical research, and the tool used for the data collection is the questionnaire method.

The questionnaire method was employed where the opinion of the general people was taken into consideration in the coming of the conclusions and also answering to the research objectives for this article. The sample size of the questionnaire involved people from different age groups, including children, college students, and working professionals. An interesting point that is to be noted here is that the questionnaires were sent online, and then they. were asked to fill it.

The technique that was used to analyze the data was a descriptive analysis where through the use of statistics the data is being analyzed.

DISCUSSION AND RESULTS

Q1. Before completing this questionnaire, were you aware of the concept of a "victim impact statement" in criminal cases?

After the analysis of this pie chart, the opinions of the people were half divided in the knowledge of the victim impact statement as a concept. As stated, 50 percent of the people know about the victim impact statement, and 50 percent of the people do not know about the victim impact statement.

Q2. What do you believe is the primary purpose of a victim impact statement?

According to the people, the main purpose of a primary statement victim is to help the court understand the personal toll of the crime. Thirty-six percent of them said that the primary purpose of a victim statement is not just to understand the mental toll but to understand the emotional and psychological impact.

Q3. What is the main content of a victim impact statement, and what do the victims say in such statements?

This study's VIS revealed old and ongoing human responses to interpersonal conflict and moral system violations, in addition to the impact of murder itself. VIS writers discuss the psychological consequences and trauma associated with murderous loss. They discuss morality, injustice, and the impact on their families and communities. They also express frustration with unfairness and indignity.

Q4. According to you, what is the utilization of the victim impact statements, or how is it used in the court?

VIS was discovered to help the victim and his or her family regain their social standing. The authors employed VISA to commemorate, personalize, and rebuild the life and personhood of the deceased victim. VIS is used to reconstruct evidence related to an offender's rights during a trial. Reconstructing the victim's identity and place in the world is both challenging and crucial.

The pragmatic value of this reconstruction served to provide proof of the social status stolen from the deceased victim while also reclaiming that status through this speech process. Bandes (2022) indicated a fundamental need of victims to have their harms named and acknowledged. This finding was echoed by the homicide survivorship literature more broadly and is evidenced here as well as the justice philosophies referred to throughout this work.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Victim impact statements describe the devastating effects on individuals' lives and prospects. The use of VIS has shown its ability to empower individuals to pursue justice. The phenomena of VIS identify and appeal to a moral justice element in the crime of murder by victims' kin, creating a method for responding to moral wrongs. Survivors of homicide often emphasize the importance of healing from the experience. The phrase "healing" is commonly associated with illness, although it refers to discovering meaning and restoring equilibrium. Survivors of homicide may genuinely be looking for moral justice. This research suggests that exercising one's moral right to confront wrong can lead to empowerment, honoring loved ones, and reclaiming meaning in life, all of which are rooted in primordial kinship practices.

Families of murder victims use VIS to claim victimization and moral justice. VIS appears to fulfill the obligation of kin to confront, assess, and demand accountability for wrongdoing. This study makes a substantial contribution to the field by introducing a new perspective and maybe resolving the argument over the instrumental or expressive usefulness of VIS. For murder, I advocate using VIS to seek justice more directly and expressively. Each family member experienced varied repercussions, such as siblings feeling ignored and responsible for their parents' grief. Gender roles differed significantly, with mothers often unable to function owing to various factors. They either experienced emotional and ontological breakdowns or were compelled to prioritize family demands before personal wants. Women, including mothers, sisters, daughters, and wives, were disproportionately affected by this atrocity.

Women stepped up or were left with the responsibility of murder, according to their stories and those of their family members. Furthermore, women were most affected and Victims of this crime have reported financial and social consequences, including a lack of time and energy for relaxation.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the findings and conclusions, there are can be application of many ideas to remedy the unjust and unnecessary suffering caused by

excluding victims' families from meaningful engagement.
Obtaining justice for a loved one's purposeful homicide, as well as addressing racist and discriminatory practices that disproportionately benefit some families over others owing to colonial institutions and biased media coverage.
Paternalistic legislation and programs that undermine the rights and dignity of families affected by murder.
By removing the legal threat of the VIS, a more open and impartial environment can be created, potentially leading to greater awareness and debate. This aligns with the moral charges brought by the victims' families.
Meetings are not necessary at this level but should be considered later. The hearing should be held in a formal court setting, with the judge in attendance to demonstrate legitimacy and acknowledgment of the victims. This reinforces the belief that the victims' families are also protected under the law and deserve to be heard in that capacity.

REFERENCES

JOURNALS

Singh, S.B., Victimization and Victim Impact Statements: An Analysis of the Consequences on Victims of Crime and the Aims of the South African Victim Charter. International Journal of Social Studies, p.1.
Cassell, P.G., 2008. In defense of victim impact statements. Ohio St. J. Crim. L., 6, p.611.
Gal, T. and Lazar, R.L., 2023. Sounds of Silence: A Thematic Analysis of Victim Impact Statements. Lewis & Clark L. Rev., 27, p.147.
Kunst, M., de Groot, G., Meester, J. and van Doorn, J., 2021. The impact of victim impact statements on legal decisions in criminal proceedings: A systematic review of the literature across jurisdictions and decision types. Aggression and violent behavior, 56, p.101512.
Wolff, K.T. and Miller, M.K., 2008. Victim and execution impact statements: What judges should know about case law and psychological research. Judicature, 92, p.148.
Farber, S., 2024. Trauma, truth, and testimony: analyzing terrorism survivors’ victim impact statements. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, pp.1-19.

BOOKS

Englebrecht, C.M., 2008. The victim impact statement: An analysis of its content, function, and meaning within the criminal justice system. State University of New York at Albany.
Ruback, R.B. and Thompson, M.P., 2001. Social and psychological consequences of violent victimization. Sage.
Davies, R. and Bartels, L., 2021. The Use of Victim Impact Statements in Sentencing for Sexual Offences: Stories of Strength. Routledge.Davies, R. and Bartels, L., 2021. The Use of Victim Impact Statements in Sentencing for Sexual Offences: Stories of Strength. Routledge.