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CRIMINAL LAW DEPARTMENT
Information Sheet 7
Pre-Sentence Reports |
Your case has been adjourned for a pre-sentence
report to be prepared on you by the Probation Service or Youth
offending Team if you are under 18
The Probation Service will need to interview you at least once,
and possibly twice. They should write to you within the next
week, giving you an appointment to attend for this purpose.
If you do not hear from them within ten days or so, you should
contact us to find out if anything has gone wrong.
It is essential that you keep any appointments that the Probation
Service make for you. They are very busy, and if you do not
attend an appointment they will probably not be able to offer
you another one before your next hearing date.
If, for any reason, you are unable to attend an appointment
made by the Probation Service, you should telephone them immediately
upon receipt of their letter to arrange an alternative. The
court will be unsympathetic if the report is not ready because
you have failed to attend your probation appointments. If a
defendant fails to co-operate, the court has the power to remand
him into custody just to enable reports to be prepared, which
does sometimes happen.
You will appreciate that reports are very influential and do
make a great deal of difference to the eventual outcome of a
case. You should therefore ensure that you are helpful and co-operative
with the Probation Service so that they prepare a good report
on you.
We will only receive a copy of the probation report on the day
of your sentence hearing. It is therefore important that you
arrive at court in good time on that occasion so that we have
a chance to discuss the report with you before the hearing and
check that everything is in order.
If you have any queries concerning the preparation of the reports
or your case generally, please do telephone.
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