Victim Impact Statements: Can Work, Do Work (For Those Who Bother to Make Them)

Based on the results of an evaluation of the Scottish pilot victim statement schemes which ran for two years until November 2005, this article is a contribution to an earlier debate about victim statements in the pages of the Review. In particular, it takes issue with the arguments presented in an article by Sanders et al., which was based on an evaluation of equivalent schemes in England and Wales. It argues that victim statements have more potential to improve the satisfaction of victims with the criminal justice process than has previously been acknowledged.