OBJECTIVE Victim impact statements (VISs) are testimonies that convey the emotional, physical, and financial harm that victims have suffered as the result of a crime. Although VISs are often presented to the court at sentencing, it is unclear whether they impact judicial decisions regarding sentencing. HYPOTHESES We did not have any formal a priori hypothesis but instead examined five research questions. The first two explored whether the relationship between the victim and the offender, as well as the type of crime, was associated with differences in the likelihood of VIS submission. The following two explored whether the presence of a VIS was associated with differences in sentencing outcomes (incarceration, probation, ancillary orders, parole eligibility). The final research question explored whether the number of VISs and the delivery format (oral vs. written) was associated with differences in sentencing outcomes. METHOD We coded and analyzed 1,332 sentencing rulings across Canada from 2016 to 2018 that included the phrase "impact statement." We coded for 87 variables, including information about the VIS, the victims and offenders, crime type, and sentencing outcomes. RESULTS Overall, VISs are more likely to be delivered in cases in which the crime is more severe. Once we controlled for the type of crime, sentencing outcomes were unrelated to the presence of VISs. Sentences were longer when VISs were delivered orally than in written format and when more than one statement was submitted. CONCLUSIONS The relationship between VISs and sentencing outcomes is closely tied to several extralegal factors and should be investigated further. This research offers insight into the mechanics of victim evidence at sentencing. The findings of this study have implications for lawyers, researchers, judges, victims, offenders, and other stakeholders in our legal systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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受害者影响陈述与司法决策之间的关系：量刑结果的档案分析。

目标 受害者影响陈述 (VIS) 是表达受害者因犯罪而遭受的情感、身体和经济伤害的证词。尽管 VIS 经常在量刑时提交给法庭，但尚不清楚它们是否会影响司法判决。假设我们没有任何正式的先验假设，而是检查了五个研究问题。前两个研究探讨了受害者和犯罪者之间的关系以及犯罪类型是否与提交 VIS 的可能性差异有关。以下两篇文章探讨了 VIS 的存在是否与量刑结果（监禁、缓刑、辅助命令、假释资格）的差异相关。最后一个研究问题探讨了 VIS 的数量和交付格式（口头与书面）是否与量刑结果的差异相关。方法 我们对 2016 年至 2018 年加拿大各地的 1,332 份量刑裁决进行了编码和分析，其中包括“影响陈述”一词。我们对 87 个变量进行了编码，包括有关 VIS、受害者和罪犯、犯罪类型和量刑结果的信息。结果 总体而言，在犯罪较为严重的情况下，更有可能提供 VIS。一旦我们控制了犯罪类型，量刑结果就与 VIS 的存在无关。口头提供 VIS 时的句子比书面形式以及提交不止一份陈述时的句子更长。结论 VIS 与量刑结果之间的关系与多个法律外因素密切相关，应进一步研究。这项研究深入了解了量刑时受害者证据的机制。这项研究的结果对律师、研究人员、法官、受害者、罪犯和我们法律体系中的其他利益相关者具有影响。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。