Capital Punishment

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT, AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

ALTERNATIVE TO SEMINAR SESSION

By

GINGER SMITH

KEN METCLIFF

INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE

09/14/2014

The victim impact statement can be a written or oral statement to the courts at pretrial, sentencing or parole board a statement of the crime committed on or towards the victim or the family left behind.

The victim impact statement is allowed in the fifty states the attorney or victim advocate can introduce the statement from the victim or the family upon the sentencing of the accused. Most of the time the statement is used at the parole board.

The reasoning for the statement is to express the feelings about the accused being sentenced or tries for parole in hopes to sway the decision of the parole board for a strong sentence or deny parole. Some states as well as using the statement in the parole hearing also allow the statement are used for the sentencing of the accused in the pre-trial, plea bargain, or parole.

When the victim is asked to write the statement the victim has to be very detailed in the statement such as:

1. The damage the crime caused

2. Emotional damage

3. Expense from the crime

4. Medical or psychological damage

5. Money that is requested from the victim for the accused to pay

6. The views of the crime from the victim or the family.

7. Victim or families opinion on the sentencing

With the role of the deliberation some states ask the judge to take into consideration the victims statement. Some states have very little to do with the victim statement and the courts and parole board which require very little from the system.

I believe the voice of the victim or the family should be heard and understood the emotional damage, mental scaring and the distress to the family needs to be strongly viewed and granted no matter the state or situation.

The thought of Capital Punishment, when it comes to capital punishment it has been a great debate all over the nation, over the last few...