The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that victim impact statements cannot be used for sentencing purposes because they are not objective.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that victim impact statements can be used in the sentencing phase of trials, notably in capital cases, as they provide the jury with information about the impact of the defendant's actions on the victim and the victim's family. This was established in the case of Payne v. Tennessee (1991), where the Court reversed its earlier stance from Booth v. Maryland (1987) and South Carolina v. Gathers (1989), which had limited the use of victim impact statements.

The US Supreme Court Ruled That Victim Impact Statements Cannot Be