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"Documentation, Documentary, and the Law: What Should be Made of Victim Impact Videos?"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this interesting new piece on SSRN from Regina Austin. Here is the abstract: Since the Supreme Court sanctioned the introduction of victim impact evidence in the sentencing phase of capital cases in Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808 (1991), there have been a number of reported decisions in which that evidence has taken the form of videos composed of home-produced still photographs and moving images of the victim.  Most of these videos were first shown at funerals or memorial services and contain music appropriate for such occasions. This article considers the probative value of victim impact videos and responds to the call of Justice John Paul Stevens, made in a statement regarding the rejection of certiorari in People v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 24, 2010 (boomark / email).