Abstract
This study examined whether the presence of a Victim Impact Statement increases sentence severity in the California state court when compared to federal court system. Based on previous research it was expected that results of this study will show that the presence of Victim Impact Statements does in fact have a substantial effect on sentencing verdicts in California cases where a violent crime was committed. However, this was not the case. 273 sentencings decisions from 2020 through July 2023 were analyzed. There were 163 cases out of 273 in which a Victim Impact Statement were not present. An examination of the cases revealed that there was not enough data to complete a statistical analysis.
