VICTIMS GIVEN STRONGER VOICE IN VICTORIAN JUSTICE SYSTEM
Source: Victoria. Deputy Premier. Media Release
"Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls highlighted the importance of supporting victims of crime as he committed to adopt recommendations from a new report. Mr Hulls said victims would have a stronger voice in the sentencing process and would be better able to exercise their right to make a victim impact statement after the Brumby Labor Government accepted recommendations in the report, ‘A Victims Voice: Victim Impact Statements in Victoria’.“It is essential that victims of crime have a voice and the opportunity to have that voice heard,” Mr Hulls said.“In adopting recommendations from this report, the Brumby Labor Government will further enshrine the importance of victim impact statements as part of the judicial process, but also as a healing mechanism for some victims. A victim impact statement working group to be established by the Department of Justice will look at a range of opportunities for further use of the statements and ways in which they may be revised, including their use in courts and how to prepare a victim impact statement.”