Using victim personal statements to inject

restorative principles into criminal

sentencing: potential and pitfalls.

Louise Taylor

6th November 2013

Victim Personal Statements – an overview

• Introduced across England and Wales in October 2001 to give victims a voice and place them at the heart of the criminal justice system.

• Provision of an enhanced service under the Victim Focus Scheme for families bereaved by homicide.

• The VPS allows victims to outline the impact of the crime upon them in a written statement to police.

• The statement is added to the case papers and made available to the sentencer for consideration once a guilty verdict has been reached.

• The statement is disclosed to the defence.

In support of Victim Personal Statements: The EU Victims Directive (2012/29/EU)

• Adopted in October 2012.

• Article 10 – ‘Member States shall ensure that victims may be heard during criminal proceedings and may provide evidence.’

• Article 27 – ‘Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 16 November 2015.’

In support of Victim Personal Statements:Improving the Code of Practice for Victims of

Crime Consultation 2013

• To give full effect to the Directive the Government has proposed to include reference to the Victim Personal Statement Scheme within their proposed Revised Code of Practice.

• The Revised Code will extend the scheme to include Community Impact Statements (para 50-51) and Impact Statements for Businesses (para 53-55).

What is the purpose of Victim Personal Statements?

• Para 42 of Improving the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime Consultation:

‘The primary purpose of the VPS is to give victims a voice in the criminal justice process and criminal proceedings when a case goes to court. The legal purpose of the VPS is to give an accurate picture of the impact of the offence on the victim which can then be taken into account when sentencing the relevant offender. It can also be used to inform bail decisions.’

Restorative Potential of VPS

• Erez suggests that VPS can:

– Provide an opportunity for court supervised communication of victim harm to the offender.

– Provide an opportunity for victim healing and empowerment.

– Provide offenders with a true picture of the harm their offending has caused which may encourage them to apologise.

– Open up lines of communication between victims and offenders.

Possible pitfalls

• Low victim participation rates

• Victims undue influence on sentencing outcomes.

• Raising then dashing victims’ expectations

• Vengeful victims

Some concluding thoughts…

• Restorative justice does not need to be an ‘all-or-nothing’ alternative to criminal justice; it can be injected into the existing justice system.

• The restorative potential of victim personal statements needs further exploration. This should be clearly spelled out to practitioners in any new guidance on the scheme.

• The main arguments levied against victim participation through victim personal statements are not supported by the empirical research.

References:

• Doak, J., and O’Mahony, D., ‘The Vengeful Victim? Assessing the Attitudes of Victims Participating in Restorative Youth Conferencing.’ (2006) 13(2) International Review of Victimology 157.

• Doak, J., and Taylor, L., ‘Hearing the Voices of Victims and Offenders: The role of emotions in Criminal Sentencing.’ 2013 64(1) Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 25.

• EU Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victim of crime.

• Erez, E., ‘Integrating restorative justice principles in adversarial proceedings through victim impact statements’ in: Ed Cape (ed.), ‘Reconcilable rights?.’ Legal Action Group, London, 2004.

• Ministry of Justice, ‘Improving the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime Consultation.’ London, 2013.

• Roberts, J. V., and Manikis, M., ‘Victim Personal Statements: A Review of Empirical Research.’ Ministry of Justice, London, 2011.