In the context of the work we do in the department with respect to victims, in the Policy Centre for Victim Issues, we've looked at the use of victim impact statements, and some of that work has revealed how courts have accepted community impact statements. To our knowledge they have not been challenged, but a lot of issues are resolved within the judge's own discretion. Because the community impact or victim impact statement wouldn't be totally decisive of the sentence, it's just one more factor, it's difficult to determine how that particular statement has had a bearing on the particular sentence. It's only to assess the impact of the crime on the community, or in the case of a victim impact statement, on the particular victim. It's not to include recommendations with respect to sentencing.
All of the purposes and principles of sentencing have to be taken into account, as well as the information provided by the victim, or in the case of community impact statements, where judges have permitted them, that information. So far it's usually been used in circumstances where sometimes there isn't a victim impact statement. An example is in drug crimes, where there's no particular victim but a whole community feels that their community is at risk in some way because of drug trade in the vicinity, or their property values have gone down, or that sort of thing.