Judges often have to proceed to sentencing without knowing whether the victim has been apprised of the right to submit a VIS Judges often have to proceed to sentence the offender without knowing the status of the victim impact statement. [...] Since their introduction, victim impact statements (VIS) have generated a considerable amount of research in Canada as well as other jurisdictions (see Roberts, 2002, for a review of research into the use of victim statements at sentencing, and Young, 2001, for a review of the role of the victim in the criminal process). [...] First and foremost, the VIS is a device to communicate information to the court about the impact of the crime upon the victim. [...] The higher the response rate, the more confident the researchers can be that the sample respondents are representative of the population. [...] Many judges report an increase in the number of VIS submitted since the statutory amendments of 1999 One of the goals of the 1999 amendments to the victim impact statement provisions in the Criminal Code was to increase the number of victims submitting an impact statement.