Victims of Crime Research Series
Summary Report on Victim Impact Statement Focus Groups

2. Summary of Findings

2. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

This section summarizes the findings of the six focus groups. It is organized according to the general issues raised in the moderator’s guide.

2.1 How Participants First Became Aware of Victim Impact Statements

The great majority of the participants in the six focus groups first learned about Victim Impact Statements from the local Victim Assistance Program with which they had contact. Occasional mention was also made of the police, social service workers, Crown Prosecutors and women’s shelters as sources of information about Victim Impact Statements.

2.2 Time Available to Complete Victim Impact Statements

The majority of the participants in the focus groups completed their Victim Impact Statements well in advance of the imposition of sentence in their cases. Some indicated having delayed submitting their statements on the advice of a Victim Services worker so that access to the statement by the Defence would be postponed until it was needed prior to sentencing. (Editor’s Note: This advice was offered because the victim impact statement is only for the purposes of sentencing and once submitted to the court or crown, the crown would be required to disclose the statement to the Defence immediately.)

The only concern related to the time available to complete the Victim Impact Statements arose in the context of cases in which a guilty plea was unexpectedly entered either prior to, or during a trial. In these cases, some participants were given only a few hours by the court to prepare and submit their statements before sentence was rendered. In one case, sentencing was delayed for several days in order for the victim to complete a VIS.

Generally, participants indicated concern that any time pressure should be imposed on crime victims to complete their statements. They see any such pressure as particularly incongruous compared to the perceived latitude given to the accused to delay and postpone portions of the trial process.

Some participants stated that a more complete and comprehensive Victim Impact Statement is likely to result when victims are given ample time to thoroughly consider all of the impacts that the crime may have had on them, and to monitor their emotions and circumstances for such impacts as the trial proceeds. Participants suggested that if victims are informed of the possibility of completing a VIS at the outset (i.e., immediately following their victimization), then they have the opportunity to accumulate a more complete listing of the impacts as they experience them before submitting their statements.

2.3 Encouragement Provided to Complete Victim Impact Statements

Most participants reported that preparation of the Victim Impact Statement was presented to them as an option. Several, however, also reported being actively encouraged by their Victim Assistance workers to complete a statement. Participants in two groups noted the importance of encouraging victims whose poverty or poor literacy (or other demographic characteristics) might make them less inclined to complete a VIS without such support. Participants suggested that the experience of preparing a Victim Impact Statement can be particularly empowering for those whose circumstances may tend to marginalize them.

2.4  Perceptions of what Victim Impact Statements are Supposed to do

The participants’ perceptions of what Victim Impact Statements are supposed to accomplish were twofold. The first perceived goal was that the statements should allow victims to have a say in the sentencing process by presenting to the court how the crime has affected their lives. Some indicated that they see these statements as, in fact, the only means available to victims to tell their stories to the court. Without such statements, these participants suggested that the full effects of the crime on victims, as well as on their families, neighbours and acquaintances, will go unreported within the trial process. They believe that to some degree, the statements reduce the perceived anonymity of the victim in the trial process.

With respect to the second perceived aim of the victim impact statement, most victims indicated that they expected that their statements would have an effect on the sentence actually imposed in their cases. At the same time, they stated that they recognized that judges must take into account a number of factors in reaching their decisions on sentencing. Many of the participants said that in retrospect, they were skeptical that their statement had had any such effect.

Some participants reported a cathartic effect from preparing their statements. In having to thoroughly review and list the impacts of the crime, they felt that they were better able to put some issues behind them and get on with their lives.

Some participants also expressed the view that the statement enables victims to tell the perpetrator how the crime affected them (without fear of immediate retaliation). Not all participants saw this as a desirable outcome. Some thought that this would simply provide the offender with information that he could use in the future against the victim.

2.5 Clarity and Completeness of Information Provided to Victims about Completion and use of their Statements

Most participants reported having received generally adequate information about how to complete a Victim Impact Statement and the uses to which it would be put. Reference was often made to the forms used, and to pamphlets accompanying the forms, which described how a statement should be prepared. In some cases, these materials were received in the mail from Provincial Victim Services or the Crown Prosecutor. Participants in some groups suggested that these mailed materials could more adequately situate the VIS in the larger context of the trial process, i.e., identifying the various stages of the trial and where the VIS fits in this process.

Participants in the Toronto group reported that the form that they were given was difficult to use and did not allow enough space to say all they wanted to say. In one case, the victims said that their statement was “thrown out” because it was not presented on the prescribed form. Another victim said that she refused to use the printed form because she felt strongly about telling her story in her own words and in her own way.

Participants in the Regina group reported some lack of clarity in terms of where to send their statements once they had completed them. They also suggested that the police officers who inform victims about VISs and assist in their completion could themselves be more knowledgeable and informative about these statements and their use.

In general, a strongly supportive role was described for Provincial Victim Services in assisting victims to draft and review their statements.

2.6 Information Which Participants Were Not Permitted to Include in Their Statements

The types of information which participants indicated they would have liked to include in their statements, but were generally not permitted to do so, included: