NCJ Number
118847
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 53 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1989) Pages: 61-64
Date Published
1989
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Just as the car replaced the horse and buggy, so computers must replace manual operations in probation and pretrial officers' tasks in presentence investigations.
Abstract
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has developed, and is constantly revising and refining, the ASSYST program to aid Federal probation officers and others in applying the sentencing guidelines. Officers involved in guideline presentence investigations quickly realized how complex and sophisticated a system had been established. There are many findings of fact to be made in each case, each of which has a material impact on the applicable guidelines. The ASSYST program prompts officers to ask all the right questions, ensures that nothing is overlooked, and suggests but does not impose probable answers. Criminal history information retrieval systems are also powerful investigative tools crucial to the proper performance of the pretrial services and probation officers' functions. Probation and pretrial services officers should not only use computers personally to apply sentencing guidelines and criminal histories in presentence investigations but also to compose their own documents through computerized word processing.