The Significance of Victim Harm: Booth v Maryland and the Philosophy of Punishment in the Supreme Court

In recent years the so-called "victims' rights movement" has achieved considerable success in increasing the attention that the criminal justice system pays to victims of crime.Examples are as diverse as the substantive reform of rape laws,' enactment of rape "shield" laws, 2 passage of the Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act, 3 and the success of organizations such as the National Organization for Victim's Assistance and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 4 One consequence of the victims' rights movement is the increasing importance of victim harm in determinations of an offender's sentence.One element of this trend is the use of "victim impact statements," now employed in various forms by thirty-eight states and the federal government.'A victim impact statement de-