Form 34.2 lists several points not traditionally included in the victim impact statement, and I would like to add this as a cautionary tale. This is a real case.
In a case of domestic violence, a husband beat his wife with a wine bottle and a clothes iron. She ran out of the house and when she came back in, he hit her again, knocking her to the floor. She was looking for somebody to call, and he pulled the phone out of the wall. She ran out of the house and flagged somebody down to take her to the hospital.
The husband was charged with aggravated assault and was brought in. At his sentencing, the victim was allowed to give her own victim impact statement in her own style. She did it verbally. She blamed herself for what happened: she shouldn't have let him drink so much; she shouldn't have argued with him. She said, “I need him home; he has to be home.” The judge took that into consideration, gave him a 22-month conditional sentence, and sent him back home.