Should "victim impact" statements be considered in criminal cases?

I, too, have a hard time deciding whether victim impact
statements, which are by definition emotional in nature, are more for the healing and
sense of justice on the part of the victims, or if it should make a legal difference if
the criminal for all intents and purposes did more "damage" with their particular crime,
or created more victims.

For example, should a person who
murdered someone with a family of ten be considered a more serious criminal because
there are nine other grieving survivors, as opposed to "only" one or two?  I think we
can get into philosophical and legal trouble by going down that
road.

That being said, someone who stole my car from my
driveway vs. someone who carjacks me at gunpoint is not the same degree of
criminality.

If I had to make a choice, I would say leave
victim impact statements out of the sentencing process. There is just too much potential
for subjective punishments and inequalities in the justice
system.