Presentence Report In Criminal Justice

There are many reports that a probation officer must give. For this particular discussion, I will focus on a presentence report. A judge relies “on presentence reports, prepared by probation officers” when they are ready to sentence an offender (Bergman, n.d.). They (the judge) use this report to help “in making sentencing decisions” (Bergman, n.d.). A well written presentence report will have the following information to help a judge in making his or her decision, “circumstances of the offense”, a “defendant’s personal history” as well as any criminal background available, and a “victim impact statement” (Bergman, n.d.). In the end, a well-written report (of any kind) will help the person making a decision to make the best one possible.