AAIM Home Page

​Victim Impact Panels


There is nothing more powerful than the spoken word of someone directly affected by an impaired driver. Personal account by victims and offenders evoke a compelling emotional response. The AAIM Speakers Bureau presentations are given to schools, DUI offenders in the courts, private industry, law enforcements and legal agencies. The goal is to create awareness, encourage prevention and illustrate the devastating consequences of impaired driving.

AAIM organizes Victim Impact Panels that reach over 700 defendants in several Illinois counties each month. AAIM's Victim Impact Panel is not punitive in nature. Judges order DUI defendants to attend Victim Impact Panels for prevention measures. AAIM is unique because we've never done a panel without offender speakers. At each panel we have two victims and one offender tell about the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial devastation that drunk drivers affect in a person's life.


Are you interested in attending a Panel through AAIM? 

Victim Impact Panels

Remorseful offenders also speak on the panel. They must be abstinent from all drugs and alcohol and take full responsibility for the devastation they have caused to innocent people. For an offender to speak at a panel, he or she must pass an interview. The questions asked are as follows:

Are you abstinent from alcohol or drugs?
Do you take full blame for the crash?
Are you truly remorseful?
Do you want to make a difference?


Only those who meet these qualifications speak at panels.

The panels have proven to be the most successful tool in preventing recidivism. DUI offenders become aware of the enormous potential for tragedy that drinking and driving can cause. The panels are also presented in Spanish and Polish.

Victim Impact Panels also benefit the speakers. Telling their story to DUI offenders can lighten the enormous pain and promote personal healing. They may be preventing another family from having to suffer a similar victimization.

Victim Impact Panels are presented in Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will, Jo Daviess, Winnebago, and Hammond, IN Counties. DUI offenders are often mandated by the court to attend these panels. 


Data gathered by AAIM showed that a person will knowingly drive under the influence 25 times without incident and before their first arrest. The good news is that 96% of those who participated in the survey stated that they believed bad driving decisions might hurt themselves or others.

The consequences of a DUI are life-changing if you don't hurt someone, but even more so if you do. We urge you to think before you get behind the wheel and make the right choice. Take a look at the consequences you face if you choose to drive impaired:

Injury or death of yourself or someone else
Loss of job, scholarship, or government aide
Loss of driving privileges
The financial impact


For more information regarding the above mentioned survey and data click here. 

(The survey was funded through a grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in 2018)

More Info

IN-PERSON PANELS NOW AVAILABLE!

> AAIM Victim Impact Panels, Locations, Contacts & Registration 

​> 2024 AAIM Victim Impact Panels Calendar


DUPAGE COUNTY VICTIM IMPACT PANEL REGISTRATION

Choose the panel below that you will attend:

Panel dates will appear on the form you select

> DUPAGE ADULT PANEL

> DUPAGE SPANISH PANEL

> DUPAGE YOUTH PANEL 


WILL COUNTY VICTIM IMPACT PANEL REGISTRATION

Choose the panel below that you will attend:
Panel dates will appear on the form you select

> WILL ADULT PANEL
> WILL SPANISH PANEL

> WILL YOUTH PANEL 



ONLINE PANELS!


> AAIM ADULT ENGLISH VICTIM IMPACT PANEL

> AAIM SPANISH VICTIM IMPACT PANEL

> AAIM YOUTH VICTIM IMPACT PANEL


COMING SOON!

> AAIM Online Reckless Driving Victim Impact Panel


​​​​​​​​​THE IMPACT ON LIVES:

The Faces of Tragedy

<="" p="">