Remember when the introduction of victim impact statements (VIS) was going to destroy criminal justice as we know it? Rhiannon Davies and Lorana Bartels have written a sober assessment of the debates. Their excellent book examines the use and usefulness of VIS from an Australian perspective with a particular focus on sexual assault matters. Australia is a good country in which to conduct a comparative review of how VIS are working as each of the Australian states and territories enacts its own crimes legislation and manages its own criminal justice system. These are all common law jurisdictions with a broadly similar socio-economic makeup but with just enough diversity in political responses to crime victims for the critical analysis Davies and Bartels make.