NCJ Number
116088
Journal
Maryland Law Review Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1988) Pages: 701-738
Date Published
1988
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to Booth v. Maryland on the future of victim impact evidence.
Abstract
In Booth, the victim impact statement, describing the effect of the murder of an elderly couple on the lives of their surviving family members, was used in sentencing the defendant. The Supreme Court found the victim impact statement in Booth contained information not directly related to the defendant's moral blameworthiness and raised serious evidentiary and procedural problems. The author argues that the Supreme Court failed to focus on the real procedural flaws in presenting the victim impact statement to a capital sentencing jury and instead examined the nature of victim impact evidence, finding it irrelevant to questions of criminal culpability. The Supreme Court's reasoning in Booth indicates that in the future the American criminal justice system will not give serious consideration to victim impact statements. Appendix gives synopsis of victim impact statements in other States. 163 footnotes.