Families of homicide victims in New South Wales could soon have their statements taken into account by judges when they hand down sentences.
The opposition leader, John Robertson, will next week introduce legislation to make it compulsory for courts to take victim impact statements into account when sentencing violent offenders, including in homicide cases.
The courts are currently not required to take the statements into account in sentencing in cases of violent offences and are prohibited from taking them into account in homicide cases.
Robertson wants to make sure courts get a real understanding of how families are affected by violent crime.
“I want victims to not just be able to give a statement for therapy but give a statement that is actually taken into consideration by a judge when they’re handing down a sentence,” he said in Sydney on Friday.
The O’Farrell government says it too wants to introduce similar legislation.
“Cabinet has approved that legislation be introduced to say that victim impact statements from family members in homicide cases can be taken into account on sentencing,” a government source said.
The Law Society of NSW is opposed to the idea, which it says could lead to harsher sentences being handed down in cases where a victim has a family to make impact statements.