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Death Penalty Statutes Eighth Amendment
4,928 wordsThe use of victim impact evidence, usually in the form of a victim impact statement (VIS), in death penalty litigation is relatively recent. This type of evidence falls into three categories: information pertaining to the characteristics of the victim, information about the repercussions of murder on family and friends, and opinions of the victims family members concerning the crime, the defendant, and the proper sentence. 1 The Supreme Court first considered the issue in a 1987 case, Booth v. M...
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