Victim Impact Statement and Court Interpreting
I attended the sentencing hearing of a murder trial in the NSW Supreme Court in 2017. The accused had been found guilty, and the hearing that day was for sentencing. I sat in the dock next to the murderer (no longer just a suspect, because he’d been found guilty already) and did chuchotage or whisper interpreting for the client throughout the hearing. The accused person was very courteous to me throughout. Even though I was sitting next to a convicted murderer, i wasn’t scared.
It was the second court interpreting assignment I’d done for a homicide matter. I had nothing but tremendous sorrow for this accused person, for the immensely grief-stricken mother of the victim, and also for the father of the victim who was trying very hard, but not very successfully at all, to hold it in and to put on a brave face.
The judge said in sentencing, “There are no winners.” This matter is a great tragedy for both families, i.e. the family of the victim and of the offender.
The victim’s mother, with the support of a victim support staff, read out a “victim impact statement” that she’d prepared beforehand. It was read out to the court through a court interpreter that’d been booked for the victim’s family (I was booked for the accused). The Victim Impact Statement served as an outlet for the mother, so that her cry for justice and her deep sorrow would be heard. Her heartfelt expressions touched everyone in the courtroom.
Her interpreter was absolutely marvelous, handling the task with the upmost level of professionalism. I was glad that it wasn’t me, because I had a lump in my throat from just listening to the mother making her statement. It would have been an incredibly difficult job for any interpreter, especially for someone who is easily moved to tears and who gets overcome with emotions in open court.
In serious indictable matters, once an accused is found guilty, the judge will need to take into account a whole raft of factors in determining the appropriate sentence. The judge’s task is to exercise their discretion in working out an appropriate sentence in the circumstances, bringing to bear their wealth of experience as a jurist. One such factor that the law says judges must take into account is the impact that the offending has had on the victim and the victim’s family.
Victim Impact Statement is a reflection of humanity in the legal system. It offers the victim and their family an opportunity to express their pain, knowing that they will be heard by the judge. It offers an emotional catharsis to the victim and their family, allowing them to take comfort in the knowledge that their grief and sorrow have not gone unnoticed, and that their feelings and voices will become a permanent part of the court’s official record.
Click here to read this post in Chinese: 刑事案件法庭口译与 "受害者影响陈述书" Victim Impact Statement
© 2022 Kenny Wang, PhD
Certified Specialist Legal Interpreter (English <> Mandarin)
Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation at Western Sydney University
