Victim impact statements

What is a victim impact statement?

A victim impact statement is a written statement that tells the court how a crime affected you. It is usually given after the person is found guilty and before the court decides the sentence. On this page, we also call it a statement.

Sometimes you can read your statement at the sentencing hearing. It is your choice whether you make a statement. You do not have to make one if you do not want to. If you do not make a statement, this will not affect the sentence the offender receives.

If you do not make a statement, the court will not assume that the crime did not affect you.

The prosecutor is the person who gives your statement to the court.

If the court accepts your statement, you can:

• read it to the court yourself,
• have someone read it for you or
• choose not to read it out.

Once your statement is handed to the court, it becomes part of the court record, even if you choose not to have it read in court.

If you want to give a victim impact statement, you should tell the prosecutor as soon as possible.

Who can make a victim impact statement

You can make a victim impact statement if:

• the offender has been found guilty
• the offender is going to be sentenced for the crime
• the offender was not criminally responsible because of mental health impairment or cognitive impairment
• you are the primary victim or a family victim
• you were harmed by the crime.

What kind of crimes this applies to

You may be able to make a statement for the kinds of offences listed below. Sometimes the court can also accept a statement for another offence if it helps show the harm caused by the crime.

Who is a primary victim or family victim?

You are a primary victim if:

• the crime was committed against you, for example an assault, or
• you saw a crime involving violence or threats of violence, a sexual offence, death, or physical harm.

You may be a family victim if the primary victim died because of the crime and you are an immediate family member. This can include a spouse or partner, parent, guardian, child, sibling, or extended family member. For Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, this also includes close family or kin under kinship systems. More than one family victim can make a statement.

Harm can be physical, emotional, psychological, financial, or social.

Emotional or psychological harm can include:

• mental health conditions, like addiction or eating disorders
• medical treatment for mental health conditions
• feelings such as anger, fear, sadness, shame, or anxiety
• low self-esteem
• memory loss or trouble concentrating
• changes to daily life, such as eating, sleeping, or exercise habits.

You will usually be able to make a statement if you suffered harm because of a serious offence involving:

• death or physical injury
• violence or threats of violence
• sexual violence or a violation of privacy, like sharing intimate images without consent.

The prosecutor decides whether to give your statement to the court.

How to prepare your statement

You should usually wait until the person is found guilty and the prosecutor asks you to prepare a victim impact statement.

You can handwrite or type your statement. It should be:

• easy to read – using size 12 font, if typed
• on A4 paper
• no longer than 20 pages, including supporting documents.

If you are the primary victim and you write your own statement, include your full name.

If you are preparing the statement for the primary victim, include:

• the victim’s name
• your full name
• confirmation that the victim agrees to the statement being given to the court, and the victim’s signature. If the victim is under 18 or has an impairment, they do not need to sign it.

If you are a family victim, you must include:

• the victim’s name
• how long you were in a relationship with the victim, unless you are related by blood
• your full name.

It is important to follow these rules. If you do not, the court may not accept your statement.

For more information about writing a victim impact statement, see Victim impact statements on the Victims Services website.

What information you can include

Primary victims

If you are a primary victim, your statement can include:

• any personal harm you have suffered, including
  • details of any injuries you suffered
  • details of ongoing medical treatment you require
  • how this harm has affected your life
• any emotional suffering or distress you have experienced, including
  • how this has affected your work, study, relationships with family and friends
  • your personal feelings of safety
• any harm that has been caused to your relationships with other people
• any economic loss or harm you have experienced, including
  • loss of income
  • how your injuries have affected your ability to work
  • any expenses you have, like improvements to home security
  • cost of medical treatment and travel for medical treatment.

You can attach supporting documents to your statement, including:

• medical reports
• receipts for medical treatment
• photographs
• drawings.

Family victims

If you are a family victim, your statement can explain how the death affected you and other immediate family members.

You can attach supporting documents to your statement, including:

• medical reports
• receipts for medical treatment
• photographs
• drawings.

What you cannot include

There are limits on what you can include in a statement. You cannot:

• describe the details of the crime
• say what sentence you think the person should get, or what the court should consider when deciding the sentence
• give your opinion about the person’s personality or character
• talk about past crimes, or crimes the person was not found guilty of
• include anything offensive, threatening, intimidating, or harassing.

Even if the offender does not object, the court cannot consider it.

If you include this kind of information, the offender will probably object, and the prosecutor will need to remove it.

Talk to the prosecutor if you are unsure about what to include in your statement.

For more information, see Victim impact statements on the Victims Services website.

Giving your statement to the court

Only the prosecutor can give your victim impact statement to the court.

The court must accept your statement if it follows the rules.

The court must confirm that it has received your victim impact statement.

If the prosecutor does not give the court a statement from a primary or family victim, the court cannot assume that the crime had no impact on the victim or their immediate family.

Objecting

You can object if someone else wants to give a victim impact statement about you. Your representative can also object for you.

If you object, the court cannot receive or consider that statement.

Support at court

You can have one or more support people near you when your statement is read out in court. This can include a family member, friend, or a person from a court support service.

You may be able to read your statement by CCTV or AVL, even if you did not give evidence that way. If you could not give evidence by CCTV or AVL, the prosecutor can ask the court for permission.

If the person is found guilty of a sexual violence offence, the court will usually be closed to the public while your statement is read. The court can only open the court if:

• there are special reasons in the interests of justice that require your statement to be read in open court, and
• you agree to your statement being read in open court.

Cross-examination

The offender is allowed to see a copy of your victim impact statement before sentencing.

If the offender has a lawyer, the lawyer can be given a copy.

If that person does not have a lawyer, the court may let them read your statement under supervision. They can read it, but they cannot copy it or share it with anyone.

The offender can:

• object to some or all of your statement
• argue about how much weight the court should give your statement
• cross-examine you about what is in your statement.

Usually, the prosecutor gives the offender or their lawyer an advanced copy of your statement. This gives you time to fix any problems before your statement is given to the court. Because of this, victims are rarely cross-examined about their statements in court.

The prosecutor will tell you if your statement needs to be changed and help you to make sure it follows the rules.

If the offender’s lawyer wants to cross-examine you about your statement, they must tell the prosecution before court.

For Commonwealth offences, the offender can only cross-examine you about your statement if the court agrees.

Your statement is more likely to be accepted if it confirms the other evidence or explains harm that would reasonably be expected from the offence.

The offender’s lawyer must destroy any copies or images of your statement after the offender has been sentenced. 

How the court uses a victim impact statement

If the offender is found guilty, the court must consider your victim impact statement before deciding the sentence.

Your statement is evidence of the harm that you suffered because of the offence.

When deciding the sentence, the court must recognise the harm done to you and to the community. If there is more than one victim, the court must consider the harm to each person. The court may also consider whether you suffered greater harm than would normally be expected from the offence.

The prosecution must prove you suffered greater harm beyond a reasonable doubt. Your statement can help show that harm.

It is up to the court to decide how much weight should be given to your statement.

The court cannot consider your views about what sentence should be given, whether you want a harsher or lighter sentence. This is partly due to the risk that you may be under pressure to forgive the offender and advocate for a lighter sentence on their behalf, as is often the case in situations involving domestic violence.

Cases involving mental health and cognitive impairment

You can give a victim impact statement after:

• a special verdict that the act is proven but the offender was not criminally responsible, or
• a finding at a special hearing that the offender committed the offence.

You can ask the court not to share all or part of your statement with the offender. You can also ask for it not to be read out in court.

The court must agree unless it is not in the interests of justice. When making that decision, the court will consider procedural fairness. This means the offender must know about, and have a chance to respond to, information the court may use during sentencing.

If the court agrees not to share your statement with the offender, it may still share it with their lawyer on the condition that the lawyer does not share it with anyone else.

The court may consider your statement when deciding what conditions the offender must follow after their release.

The court cannot consider your statement when deciding the limiting term.

If the offender becomes a forensic patient, the court must give a copy of your statement to the Mental Health Review Tribunal as soon as practical.

For more information, see Forensic patients.

Commonwealth crimes

If you are a victim of a Commonwealth offence and it caused you harm, you can make a victim impact statement and the court must consider it.

Harm can include physical, emotional, or psychological suffering, financial loss, other loss, or damage.

Your victim impact statement can be spoken or written. It can be made by:

• you
• with the court’s permission, a family member
• a person appointed by the court.

It must explain how the offence affected you, including the harm you suffered.

If your statement is written, you must sign it. A copy must be given to the prosecutor and the offender or their lawyer a reasonable time before the hearing.

If your statement is spoken, a summary must be given to the prosecutor and the offender a reasonable time before the hearing.

Unless the court orders otherwise, you can only make one statement.

Help to prepare a statement

You can get help from a family member, friend, or counsellor to write a victim impact statement.

If the case is being heard in the Local Court, you can talk to the officer in charge of the case for help preparing your statement. The police prosecutor can’t help you to prepare your victim impact statement or tell you what to write.

If the case is being heard in the District or Supreme Court, you can talk to the prosecutor or contact the Witness Assistance Service.

For more information, see Victim Impact Statements on the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions website.

If you are a victim of a forensic patient, you can contact the Specialist Victims Support Service (SVSS) for help to prepare a victim impact statement by:

• phone 1800 633 063, or
• email - svss@justice.nsw.gov.au.

For more information, see Victim impact statements Guide on the Victims Services website.

Last updated: May 2026