What Is a Victim Impact Statement and How Does it Affect a Case?

When Dylan Mortensen got the chance to tell the court how the murder of her four roommates at the hands of Bryan Kohberger affected her, the 21-year-old did not hold back. 

"What he did shattered me in places I didn't know could break," Mortensen, one of two University of Idaho students who survived the off-campus stabbing, said at Kohberger’s sentencing in July 2025. “I had to sleep in my mom's bed because I was too terrified to close my eyes.”

This was Mortensen’s victim impact statement; fellow survivor Bethany Funke, who was asleep a floor below when the crimes occurred, gave a statement as well. 

“I still carry so much regret and guilt for not knowing what had happened and not calling right away,” she shared in a written statement, referring to calling 911, “even though I understand it wouldn’t have changed anything.” 

Kohberger, a former criminology PhD student, pled guilty to the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, via a plea deal. 

A victim impact statement (VIS) is a written submission or speech that explains the physical, emotional and financial toll of a crime. It is made during an offender’s release, plea, sentencing or parole hearing by victims or, if a victim is deceased or incapacitated, their family. Victims may work with prosecutors, victim advocates, witness coordinators, family and friends, among others, when preparing their statements. At the federal level, written statements are submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and forwarded to the U.S. Probation Office, which includes them in a Presentence Investigation Report, a file with information on the defendant’s background, crimes and impact, prepared for the judge’s review before sentencing. Similar rules exist at the state level, though the details vary by state. 

Goncalves’ mother, Kristi Goncalves, spoke on her behalf, addressing the plea deal that helped Kohberger avoid the death penalty. “While I’m disappointed the firing squad won’t get to take their shots at you, hell will be waiting,” she said to Kohberger.

Goncalves’ sister, Alivea Goncalves, told Kohberger, “If you hadn’t attacked them in their sleep, in the middle of the night like a pedophile, Kaylee would've kicked your f------ ass.” 

Randy Davis, Kernodle's stepfather, expressed empathy for the bereaved families before telling Kohberger, “I want to just be out in the woods with you just so I can teach you about loss and pain.” 

In 1976, James Rowland, the Chief Probation Officer in Fresno County, Calif., created the impact statement, believing it was unjust that defendants had several opportunities to present themselves favorably pre-sentencing but victims and their families had no voice in court at all. As the need for victims' rights started to gain recognition, Congress passed the Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982, requiring, among other things, that presentence reports include information on a victim’s harms and losses.

However, in the 1987 case Booth v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that victim impact statements violate the Eighth Amendment, which prevents cruel and unusual punishment, in sentencing hearings where the death penalty is on the table. This precedent was overturned four years later in Payne v Tennessee, and the right of a victim to be reasonably heard was raised to the statutory level in 2004 with the Crime Victims’ Rights Act. 

Survivors and their families say victim impact statements give them an opportunity to be heard and get closure. In 2018, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina held a historic hearing where 156 women gave victim impact statements over seven days against Larry Nassar, a USA Gymnastics team doctor who pled guilty to seven counts of criminal sexual conduct.

Gymnastics gold medalist Jordyn Wieber, who received training from Nassar starting at age 8, told the court, “I thought that training for the Olympics would be the hardest thing that I would ever have to do. But in fact, the hardest thing I've ever had to do is process that I am a victim of Larry Nassar.”

Another Olympic medalist, McKayla Maroney, claimed she was sexually abused by Nassar at 13 or 14. “I thought I was going to die,” she said.

Aquilana gave Nassar 175 years in prison, telling him, “As much as it was my honor and privilege to hear the survivors, it is my honor and privilege to sentence you.”

In 2009, a Colorado victim of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, which was the biggest in history, wrote in her victim impact statement, “I told my father (89) he could not die because I didn’t have enough to bury him.” 

Michael Schwartz, whose family lost savings earmarked for his brother who had an intellectual disability, told the court, "I only hope that his prison sentence is long enough so that his jail cell will become his coffin.”

Madoff was awarded the maximum possible sentence of 150 years and died in prison at age 82. Judge Denny Chin called what Madoff did not merely a bloodless crime, but one that takes a staggering human toll.

Kernodle's aunt, Kim Kernodle, told Kohberger in her statement that she has questions for Kohberger and is ready to discuss what happened without judgment, but he chose not to make a sentence. "I have forgiven you because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart,” she said.

Taking victim impact statements into consideration, the judge gave Kohberger four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and a 10-year sentence for burglary, the maximum penalty short of capital punishment allowed under Idaho law.