Publication Date
4-2020
First Advisor
Leifa Mayers
Abstract
Survivors of sexual assault are given the opportunity to provide a victim impact statement in front of their abusers in court. Former Michigan State University gymnastics doctor, Larry Nassar, has 204 statements against him. These statements give survivors the power they need to resist any assumptions made about them before, during, and after the assault; however, in what ways could they also be endorsing these assumptions? For this research, I have randomly selected a sample of statements from the unnamed victims of the People of the State of Michigan v Lawrence Gerard Nassar case in order to understand how the language used in the statements both resists and reinforces the construction of the “ideal” victim.
ScholarWorks Citation
Dowell, Isabel, "The Language Behind Victim Impact Statements" (2020). Student Scholars Day Posters. 18.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/ssd_posters/18
