Senator Dale M. Volker Passes Legislation To Allow Family Members Of A Crime Victim To Speak At Sentencing

(Albany, NY) Senator Dale M. Volker (R-I-C, Depew) today passed legislation (S.1524-A), that would permit additional members of a victim's family to speak at the sentencing of a criminal.

"Our current law only allows a single victim impact statement at the sentencing phase. This is unfair and unjust. There is simply not just one victim, but several and all must have to live with the traumatic ramifications of being a crime victim. We must ensure that victims of crime and their families have the right to participate and to be heard in the criminal justice system," said Senator Volker. "It is imperative that crime victims are allowed to personalize and express the impact it has had on them and their families, and expedite the emotional recovery and therapeutic closure of these traumatic events."

Current law permits only one member of a victim's family to make a statement at a sentence, preventing parents, grandparents, siblings, and children from addressing the court prior to sentencing. This legislation would allow all family members to express how the criminal's act has affected the life of the victim, and their lives as well, by expanding the number of family members who may speak at the sentencing of the defendant, including the victim's spouse among the family members permitted to speak at the sentencing, and allowing a picture of the victim to be shown during the opening and closing arguments.

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