The Language of Harm: What the Nassar Victim Impact Statements Reveal About Abuse and Accountability

Abstract

This Article examines 148 Victim Impact Statements that were delivered to the
court in the Larry Nassar criminal sentencing. Larry Nassar was a doctor for the
United States Gymnastics Association and an employee of Michigan State University
who treated elite athletes, predominantly gymnasts. Nassar pleaded guilty to child
pornography and first-degree criminal sexual misconduct charges in Michigan. His
sentencing received worldwide attention as victims delivered impact statements
describing the harm and betrayal of his conduct. Using corpus-based discourse
analysis, this Article examines the complex strategies that the victims deployed to
describe who Nassar was (a doctor, a monster, a friend), what he did (abuse, assault,
pedophilia, “treatments”), and the harms that they suffered (pain, hurt, betrayal). It
concludes by recommending more robust and holistic approaches to the naming and
framing of sexual assault, more proactive policy uses of Victim Impact Statements in
shaping systemic reforms, and greater law reforms to prevent systemic institutional
sexual assault.