NCJ Number
221756
Journal
Women & Criminal Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: 2007 Pages: 1-23
Date Published
2007
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study, which was conducted in Ontario, Canada, examined 15 social workers' (SWs') perspectives of sexual assault victims' victim impact statements (VISs), which are crime victims' written and/or verbal accounts of the physical, psychological, and economic harms they experienced due to the crime.
Abstract
The interviews with the SWs, all of whom worked in a hospital-based sexual assault care and treatment center, found that most were unaware of the legislative content and history of VISs in sexual assault cases; however, they had acquired, through various means, a knowledge of the formal and informal rules of legal practice pertaining to the construction, reception, and implementation of VISs in the court setting. Some apparently unquestioningly adhered to VIS rules and guidelines, but others questioned the VIS restrictions on content and tone. Some SWs helped the women victims phrase and structure their statements in ways intended to voice their victimization experience while avoiding negative reactions from the presiding judge. Such influence by the SW on the VIS suggests it may not entirely reflect the victim's personalized perception of her suffering. When questioned on their thoughts about the value of the VIS, most SWs were unable to give definitive conclusions about its impact on the court's sentencing; however, some SWs reported that victims often became upset because their expectations for sentence length were not met. This suggests that sexual assault victims were not satisfied with the VIS's impact on the judge's sentencing decision. The semistructured, face-to-face and telephone interviews with the SWs were conducted by a researcher with a Master's degree in Social Work. 44 references