Australia
The State of South Australia enacted law in 1988 specifically providing for Victim Impact Statements in the sentencing process, and other States followed with legislation that either provides specifically or generally for the tendering of victim impact statements as part of the sentencing process.
Among current issues with victim impact statements is their relative newness and a lack of research into their actual effectiveness against their theoretical goals. There are occasionally legal issues surrounding the admissibility of facts in a victim impact statement that are materially adverse to an offender.
In the State of Queensland, the Director of Public Prosecution guidelines require prosecutors to remove inappropriate or inflammatory material from Victim Impact Statements prior to them being submitted before a court to prevent any such issues.
Read more about this topic: Victim Impact Statement
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