Sentence:  As of July, 1985, 19 states permitted victim <WSD>allocution</WSD> at the sentencing phase of criminal trials. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The legal right of a victim, in some jurisdictions, to make a statement to a court prior to sentencing of a defendant convicted of a crime causing injury to that victim; the actual statement made to a court by a victim.