Investigations

The presentence report is a key document submitted to the court and includes a description of the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the offender, the application of federal sentencing guidelines and available sentencing options. Officers who prepare presentence reports must be especially skilled at gathering, organizing, and analyzing information.

In the report and accompanying sentencing recommendation, the probation officer must assess the probability of risk to the community in the form of future criminal behavior, the harm the offense caused and the need for restitution, any profit the offender may have received from the crime, and the defendant’s ability to pay sanctions such as a fine, restitution, or costs.

The report is used to help the court determine an appropriate sentence and also serves several other purposes. Since the advent of the sentencing guidelines, the importance of the presentence report has increased because the document is now designed to frame factual and legal issues for sentencing. Thereafter, if a defendant is incarcerated, the Bureau of Prisons will use information in the report to designate the institution where the offender will serve the sentence and to determine the offender’s eligibility or need for specific correctional programs. The probation officer assigned responsibility for the offender’s case during probation and supervised release will use the report to make an initial assessment of case needs and risks. Additionally, the report may be used as a source of information for future research.

When a defendant is referred for a presentence investigation, the officer must immediately begin to gather the facts. Though the procedure varies somewhat from district to district, the officer usually conducts several aspects of the investigation concurrently to ensure that the presentence report is submitted to the court on time. Since officers routinely conduct multiple presentence investigations simultaneously, meeting the deadlines can be difficult.

During any investigation a probation officer may review numerous documents including: court dockets, plea agreements, investigative reports from numerous agencies, previous probation or parole records, pretrial services records, criminal history transcripts, vital statistics records, medical records, counseling and substance abuse treatment records, scholastic records, employment records, financial records, and others. The probation officer must scrutinize each document received and determine the likely accuracy of the record.

The officer then discloses the final report to the court, the defendant, and both attorneys, and the recommendation to the court. The probation officer must be prepared to discuss the case with the sentencing judge in chambers or in court, to answer questions about the report that arise during the sentencing hearing, and ultimately, to testify in court as to the basis for the factual findings and guideline applications recommended in the report.

After sentencing, copies of the presentence report and other required documents are forwarded to the Bureau of Prisons and the United States Sentencing Commission or the United States Parole Commission in pre-guideline cases.

In 1984, Congress addressed the issue of fairness in sentencing by passing the Sentencing Reform Act. This Act created a new federal agency, the United States Sentencing Commission, and instructed it to develop uniform guidelines for sentencing in federal cases.

The guidelines were to be fair so that similar offenders convicted of similar crimes would receive similar sentences. The guidelines were also to be honest: the sentence received was to be the sentence served. Parole would be abolished. No longer would people turn what appeared to be a long sentence into a short one. (Inmates could still earn credits for good behavior, but this was limited to 54 days a year.) And the guidelines were to be certain. A person convicted of an offense would have a clear idea of the range of sentences he or she could receive.

The guidelines became effective November 1, 1987, and apply to all federal felonies and most serious misdemeanors. To learn more, please visit the United States Sentencing Commission's web-site.

• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• United States Sentencing Commission www.ussc.gov.
• Victim’s Rights 18 U.S.C. § 3771

• Prob Form 48 (Net Worth Statement)
• Prob Form 48A (Request For Net Worth Financial Records)
• Prob Form 48A-S (Request For Net Worth Financial Records Spanish)
• Prob Form 48B (Monthly Cash Flow Statement)
• Prob Form 48C (Request For Monthly Cash Flow Statement)
• Prob Form 48D (Declaration)
• Prob Form 48EZ (Net Worth Short Form)
• Prob Form 48EZ-S (Net Worth Short Form Spanish)