Bríd Ní Raghallaigh

Victim Impact Statements and the Changing Role of the Victim: What Role Do Victim Impact Statements and the Victim Themselves Play in the Criminal Process? Bríd Ní Raghallaigh

The role of the victim in the Criminal Process became a huge debate in recent times . It has been questioned whether the victim plays an important enough role in the Criminal process despite the fact that he is the initiator. In this thesis, I set out to investigate this. I decided to research the Irish situation and so I looked at all the available data to discover that this was very limited. I then undertook some qualitative research of my own . I decided to speak to all the relevant actors in the field so as to get to the heart of the matter. All of these people had ?hands on ? experience of either dealing with victims of crime or engaging with policy that related to this area. I questioned them also on the use of the Victim Impact Statement and I tried to get to the bottom of the question relating to these statements through a series of meetings and interviews. I then looked to other jurisdictions in an attempt to build up an accurate picture. The results were very interesting. I finally looked to the future of the rights of victims here and what part , if any, Victim Impact Statements could make to those rights.