2023 Barrock Lecture on Criminal Law

What Does the Larry Nassar Case Teach Us About the Value of Victim Impact Statements?

Hon. Paul Cassell, of the University of Utah, and Prof. Edna Erez, of the criminology, law, and justice faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago, will deliver this year’s Barrock Lecture on Criminal Law.

For almost 20 years, federal and state laws have afforded victims of crime the right to deliver victim impact statements at sentencing. Yet whether crime victims should be allowed to present victim impact statements remains a subject of controversy in the criminal justice literature, and relatively little is known systematically about the content of the statements and how victims approach them. This lecture will present an important case study based on the sentencing of Larry Nassar, who was convicted in federal court for decades of sexual abuse of hundreds of athletes, mostly minors, while he was treating them for various injuries during his 25 years as the sports physician for the USA Gymnastics team and Michigan State University’s athlete. The lecture discusses both the contents of the victim impact statements delivered by more than 100 Nassar victims as well as the broader implications of the findings in the debate over the desirability of victim impact statements.

Hon. Paul G. Cassell, University of Utah

Paul G. Cassell is the Ronald N. Boyce Presidential Professor of Criminal Law and University Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Utah. He is a leading researcher on criminal and civil justice issues and has published many widely cited articles on topics such as crime victims’ rights, wrongful convictions, interrogation and confessions, and proactive policing. He is a former U.S. District Judge for the District of Utah.

Edna Erez, University of Illinois at Chicago

Edna Erez is professor in the Department of Law, Criminology, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has taught and written about the criminal law in the United States and internationally for more than 40 years.

This lecture series remembers George Barrock, L’31, and Margaret Barrock.