• Meet with the victim if both desire a meeting and after both have been professionally prepared • Write weekly letters from prison describing prison life (to the victim’s family or to the offender’s own family or children) • No Internet access Refining Your Statement After you have a rough draft, it’s best to spend time cutting it down and refining it before you deliver it to the court. It is
usually difficult to find adequate words to describe what has happened to you. Nonetheless, words can be the most powerful tool you have in the courtroom, so try to make the best of them. Your Victim Impact Statement should take no more than 10 minutes of reading or listening time to make the greatest
Have your voice heard.
impression. Go over what you have drafted and underline or highlight the parts of each section that you think are most important in order to understand what you are going through. Now write a new draft keeping the tips in mind.
Helping Children Create Impact Statements
If a child was injured or had a family member injured or killed in a crash, consider also including a Victim Impact Statement from them as well as talking about it in your statement. You should do this only if your child indicates an interest in doing so. If your child is unable to read, help him or her by asking questions and writing the statement for them. If your child can read and write and wants to participate, consider allowing them to answer these questions themselves in their own separate statements. They can also draw a picture to show how the crime has impacted them. Please do not tell the child what to write or draw.
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