VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

If the Police or EEO issue a ticket or tickets for a crime that has had an impact upon you, then you may be asked to provide a Victim Impact Statement.  Judges rely heavily upon these statements when they sentence offenders.  The statements also can influence how seriously the prosecutors approach a particular case.

If no one asks you for such a statement and you would like to provide one, a Victim Impact form is provided electronically on the Court's Web page at: www.ci.boulder.co.us/courts/forms/vis.pdf 

Or to send your letter via USPS addressed to:
Prosecution Division of the City Attorney's Office, P.O. Box 8015, Boulder, Colorado 80306-8015, telephone (303) 441-3025,

In your statement, explain the impact upon you of the crimes that have been committed in your neighborhood.  You may mention the impact on your quiet enjoyment, the emotional impact upon you and your family, the reduction in your property value, or any other impact that the crime has had upon you.

Below are some examples of Victim Impact Statements that neighbors have written  for noise and over-occupancy issues this past year.

Victim Impact Statement #1: 

We live just half a block from xxx.  Here’s how the misbehavior in the house has had an impact on our lives.

a)  Visual.  Until a decade or so ago, it was a pleasant house with a handsome peony garden, lovingly tended by the couple who grew old and died there.  Since then, it has become a rental property and has deteriorated into a wasteland.  First, the plants were allowed to a dusty death, then the garden became an intermittent parking lot, and at last the area that had been a garden was dumped with sand and was turned into a volleyball court. For most of last year, we watched an upholstered couch and some other indoor furniture gradually rot.  Usually there are beer cups and beer bottles and empty cigarette packs and decaying cardboard boxes strewn about.  The park front area is virtually paved with cigarette butts.  There’s a low wire fence on the west side of the property, but it’s been bent down to the ground.  It’s total and absolute neglect.  To the best of my knowledge, the owner of the property hasn’t spent a nickel on watering or five minutes on groundskeeping since the property became a rental unit.  It’s a disgusting, garbage-y mess.

b) Obstructions.  The tenants do not ever—EVER—shovel the snow.  Because the sidewalk is shaded from the southern sun in the winter, the snow melts during the day and freezes at night and becomes impossible to pass without danger.  Very frequently there’s a car left to block half or the whole of the sidewalk.  In order to pass by in the winter, one has to tread carefully on the ice and navigate around the automobile.  Most of the time, we are simply forced to walk in the road or cross to the north side of the street.  Many of the people who use xxxx Avenue are at the age when a broken hip is a real possibility, but neither the landlord nor the tenants seem to care.

c)  Noise.  Volleyball, it seems, just can’t be played without putting the stereo speakers in the window and blasting—no matter how great the inconvenience to the neighbors.  Weekend afternoons, when many of us want to work quietly in our gardens, or—heavens forefend—take a nap, are a special time for noise.  Not to mention the firecrackers.  For some reason, tenants at xxxx have had a love affair with them.  One afternoon last year, one of us confronted the tenants who were obliviously shooting off explosives.  Oh no, they assured her, they weren’t the ones who had been playing with firecrackers in the middle of the night.  But we’re suspicious—the noise seemed to come from the direction of the volleyball court.  Again last year, one of us had a talk with a tenant at the house near xxxx on the xx^th street side.  He was a junior high school teacher, and he was moving out because of the noise.  He’d been there a couple of months and couldn’t take it any longer.

d) Overoccupancy.  It’s a very small house, and there were seven names on the mailbox the last time I looked.  Trash, noise, vehicles, beer cups: just what can be expected of tenants when nothing is expected of them by the landlord.  I’ve never been inside the house, but if it’s as much of a dump as the outside, it’s no wonder that it attracts irresponsible tenants.  Who else would live in such a place?  What would the people who had such pride in their peonies think if they knew that their home has become a blight to the neighborhood? 

Victim Impact Statement #2

On the evening of __ ______ 2000 and the morning of __ ________ 2000, the defendant and defendant's roommates had a noisy, large, uncontrolled party.  The defendant is one of as many as seven tenants at this address. 

 

At its peak, the defendant's party featured 150-200 partygoers.  I personally witnessed the party and those who attended it.  Most of the partygoers appeared to be of student age.  Most appeared to be underage drinkers.  More than one hundred of the partygoers were in the  backyard, drinking, shouting, and disturbing the quiet enjoyment of the neighbors including me.

 

The defendant's backyard is on the alley.  Her immediate neighbors to the east include a row of owner-occupied housing including an elderly woman, her ill husband, several other couples, and my wife and I who have several young children.

 

I could easily hear the party quite loudly from more than 100 feet away.  Indeed, I could hear the party from several hundred feet away. I called the police and lodged a noise complaint.  I walked over from my house to the defendant's house, and I happened to be there when Officer Terry Steinborn arrived at the defendant's house.  At the time, I was surprised to see that a student noted the presence of Officer Steinborn, said aloud in a mocking tone “Oh, the environmental police,” and then walked into the backyard to join the revelry. 

 

I followed the student into the backyard.  Although the backyard fence has gates, they were all open.  There was no one at all restricting entrance to the party.  No one at all either asked me what I wanted, questioned my presence there, or suggested that I was unwelcome at the party.  That is to say, the party was open to anyone of any age who wanted to come in and drink alcohol.

Officer Steinborn met with the tenants at the door for some time.  Later on, after 1:00 a.m., the police came to break up the party.  At this point, the tenants attempted to induce their “guests” to leave.  I listened and watched as one of the tenants stood on the back steps of the house and yelled at partygoers who were congregating in her alley.  She yelled, over and over, “Get the Fuck out of my alley.”  Her guests mocked her back and retorted that it was a public alley.  She clearly had no control whatsoever over her party.  Apart from the indignity to the neighbors of having loud partygoers spilling into their yards, urinating in the bushes (as I witnessed several students doing), and littering their yards, no neighbor should have to put up with someone yelling obscenely at 1:00 or 1:30 in the morning. 

 

As the party broke up, I watched from the alley.  Numerous drunken and obviously underage men and women poured into the alley and street.  Some walked, others got into cars, some rode motorcycles.  I resented the fact that once again, irresponsible student tenants had unleashed the menace of hundreds of drunks onto the streets of Boulder.

 

Today, before leaving for work, I walked up the alley and saw that the garbage of the tenants at the defendant's house is overflowing the dumpster.  There are three uncovered garbage cans filled with garbage as well.  One is overturned and its contents have spilled into the alley.  The ground on the alley side of the property is littered with trash, including the omnipresent red plastic cups that still litter the ground three weeks after their large party.  As well, the ground on the front of their house is littered with trash.

 

What do we expect if we live on the Hill?  The home owners of the University Hill neighborhood expect to live in peace, safety, and dignity.  We treasure the diversity of our neighborhood, and we enjoy living with student neighbors.  We do expect our student neighbors to have parties.  However, we do not expect and will not allow our student neighbors to disturb the quiet enjoyment of our homes.  We will not tolerate the possibility of injury to our children and ourselves by drunken minors who drive cars or engage in riots.  As well, we resent the reduction in the value of our property values because of student irresponsibility.  In short, we have had enough.

 

Last weekend, I visited Madison, Wisconsin, home to a comparable state university.  While there, I discuss with four police officers the party that the defendant had.  In Madison, the police explained, the party givers would be subject to enormous fines in the range of $10,000-$20,000.  The police would fine them for serving alcohol without a permit, with a roughly $250 fine per guest.  As well, the police would ticket the partygoers for service of alcohol to minors.  (Here in Colorado, service of alcohol to minors under the age of 18 is a Class 4 felony, although apparently the Boulder District Attorney does not charge it as such.)  The Madison police would also ticket for noise.  Finally, the Madison police told me that parties on the scale of the defendant's are relatively rare events in Madison.

 

I would urge the City Attorney’s office and the Municipal Court judge to seek and impose the largest possible fine on the defendant.   Those who throw such large, completely uncontrolled parties need to begin to understand that they have responsibility to their neighbors and communities.  A fine and perhaps the imposition of a community service responsibility may help to awaken this responsibility.

 

Victim Impact Statement #3:

I have called the environmental police numerous times regarding the trash and most importantly the glass that is on the grounds of xxxx Avenue. There is more glass than grass and this is a huge safety issue that has affected my quality of life while living on the hill.

I have young children.  We like to walk down xxxx Avenue to the Dairy Queen or to get a burrito from Illegal Pete's. My children prefer to walk but because of all the glass at xxxx College Avenue, I have to force them into a stroller, because I am truly afraid they will get cut badly if they fell or tripped on this property.  There  are often glass bottles broken in half not to mention dozens of glass shards. My children kick and scream when I force them to ride in the stroller but it is a safety issue so as a mother I have no choice. This is not right.

I have called the environmental police at least 10 times on xxxx Ave. in the past 4 years. I even wrote an editorial for the Open Forum of the Daily Camera referring to this house that was published in xxxx of xxxx.

This ghetto-like mentality of the owner of this house as well as its residents show a huge lack of regard for the large number of students, elderly, children, men and women that walk up and down xxxx Avenue for both pleasure and business everyday. 

I hope that this situation can be rectified so that my children don't have to be put, kicking and screaming, into a stroller as we walk past xxxxe Avenue for fear of their safety.

We are hoping that there can be safety standards maintained for the enjoyment of our neighborhood.

Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Victim Impact Statement #4

The actions of the defendant (very loud parties, incessant trash, underage drinking) has led to an environment of intimidation. My wife and children are afraid to walk in the block where the defendant lives for fear of confrontations/disputes and, to be honest, are concerned about reprisals for speaking out for a quiet and reasonably orderly neighborhood.

Enforcement of existing ordinances at the defendant's house (reducing over-occupancy, curbing underage drinking, heavy fines for landlord, fines for students) would be a start for these students understanding that there are consequences to unruly and illegal behavior. The ghetto-like mentality of the defendant and her roommates and lack of regard for the large number of families and elderly that are living in the area is disgraceful. In addition, the University should adjudicate and enforce penalties (3 strikes??? Why not one?) including suspension.

The defendant should abide by local ordinances, clean up their home and garden (last Sunday I cleaned up two broken beer bottles that have been in front of their house for weeks). We don't want to be prisoners in our own home and, like many other families afraid to speak out, we're just hoping that there can be a minimal level of standards maintained.