Victim impact statements in the courtroom: Agency and communion in communication with victims

The Victim Impact Statement (VIS) has transformed victims’ interactions with the criminal justice system. Victims have been given a voice through which they can tell their story and share their victimisation experience. These autobiographical narratives could furthermore instigate reciprocal communication between victims and legal professionals. The communicative value of victim participation has the potential to restore victims’ agency and communion. Agency and communion are the Big Two in social psychology and reflect feelings such as individuality and achievement, and feelings such as belongingness and inclusion, respectively. This multi-method research explores the content, intention and impact of the communication between victims and legal professionals in relation to VIS in the Netherlands, and links this to the framework of agency and communion. A coding model was used to structure the data. Results show that professionals make concerted efforts that victims feel heard, which has positive effects on feelings of agency and communion. These findings emphasise the value of victim participation and the need for an acknowledgement of the agency- and communion-related goals of it.