Influence of the Pre-Sentence and Other Reports on Clients' Correctional Careers

• NCJ Number: 69947
• Author(s): W H Parsonage
• Date Published: 1968
• Length: 10 pages
• Corporate Author: Pennsylvania State University
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report to probation officers and social workers discusses the formulation and interpretation of presentence and other reports as diagnostic tools and guidelines necessary for effective rehabilitative corrections.

Abstract

If it is to have value, a diagnostic statement in a presentence or other related report should clearly differentiate and individualize. A universally valid diagnostic statement that has applicability to the majority of the offender population is meaningless because it tells no more than what is known before seeing the client. In order to change aberrent attitudes, the correctins professional must gain an understanding of the individual. In interpreting reports specific guidelines should be followed. The information about the individual offender should assist the development of a sound and supportable assessment of the client's current social, economic, and behavioral adjustment to the community. Moreover, enough information should be elicited from the offender and those who know the offender well to be able to describe the offender's attitude toward, among others, life, family, friends, work, and offenses. A client's current behavior should be evaluated in terms of past behavior but enough must be known about the past in order to make any evaluation supportable and useful. In addition, the corrections professional must be prepared to tell the court how the information relates to the individual offender. At the same time, the professional must be careful not to overinterpret information or to develop a diagnosis for which he is professionally unqualified. The corrections professional should know how to use professional assistance from other disciplines to gain insight into the problem and to predict their impact upon the individual. Finally, when interpreting the meaning of the information about the individual, the corrections professional should understand its implication for the disposition of the case and the correctional experience that will follow.