Pre-Sentence Report

[Mikel12]

How important is the pre-sentence report and does the judge takes it into consideration if it is my first conviction?

[FredPuli43]

Very. It is particularly important with first offenders. The judge wants to know why the offender has committed the first offence, whether it is likely to be repeated, and what the best course of action is.

[Buenchico]

>>>How important is the pre-sentence report?

It can be extremely important. Judges generally try to keep people out of prison wherever possible but they sometimes struggle to find a reason to impose a non-custodial sentence when the case details seem to point to a custodial one. If they can see something in a pre-sentence report that enables them to do so, they'll welcome it (and I'm sure that the offender will also welcome the non-custodial sentence received as a result of that report).

Conversely, a bad pre-sentence report could work the other way.

Example 1:
"Fred Bloggs accepts the gravity of his offending and appears to be remorseful. He recognises that his excessive drinking is related to his offending and has asked for help in dealing with this problem. He has a stable family life and the support of his parents (with whom he is temporarily living while he is actively seeking permanent accommodation). He also has the offer of regular employment, which would be lost if the Court was to impose a custodial sentence. It is the view of the Probation Service that Mr Bloggs would benefit from a Community Service Order but would suffer long-term harm to his self-esteem and employment prospects (possibly leading to further offending) if a custodial sentence was to be imposed".

Example 2:
"John Smith does not seem to recognise the harm caused by his offending and has shown no remorse for it. Despite his admittance that he was drunk at the time of the offence he does not see that he has an alcohol problem and has expressed his opposition to any form of treatment. He is currently unemployed and, because he has failed to turn up to several JobCentre appointments, without any income or prospect of immediate employment. He has stated that he has no links to his family and does not wish to seek any. At the present time he is sleeping on the floor at a friend's flat but he has indicated that this arrangement might need to end soon because of opposition from his friend's landlord.

Mr Smith failed to arrive for the first two appointments made for him in order to prepare this report, citing non-specific 'illness' on both occasions. In view of this, and his record of failing to attend appointments elsewhere, the Probation Service takes the view that Mr Smith would be unlikely to satisfactorily complete a Community Service Order".

So which one do you think is going to prison?

[Mikel12]

Well of course it is example 2 it is more likely to go to prison.

Can the probation officer advice custodial sentence? Even if my pre-sentence report will be similar to the example 2 that buenchico posted?

[Mikel12]

I mean example 1!

[FredPuli43]

I've never known a probation officer advise a custodial sentence. They won't because their purpose is to help the court by suggesting, directly or indirectly, 'alternative means of disposal' (to use the ugly jargon of the trade), and why such disposal might work.

[Buenchico]

As Fred has stated, the Probation Service would be unlikely to actually recommend a custodial sentence but, as in my second example above, they have to be realistic about the chances of a non-custodial sentence actually working.