Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

recommend a bail amount or conditions of pretrial

supervision, including curfews, home confinement,

and drug testing. They also must decide what consti-

tutes an infraction or violation of those conditions

and how to respond to the infraction—for example,

asking the judge to issue a warrant for a person’s

arrest and ordering that the person be detained in jail

until the case is heard in court.

Presentence Decisions

When the case proceeds to the trial or plea bargaining

stage, probation officers help judges render sentences

through presentence investigation (PSI) reports.

Judges order presentence investigations, mostly in

felony cases, to obtain background information that

will guide them in imposing the most appropriate

sanction. In particular, PSIs assist judges in ascertain-

ing whether prison is an appropriate sentence in light

of the crime and the offender’s criminal and social his-

tory. Information in a PSI places the offense in a larger

context that informs the judge in determining whether

probation is a sufficiently punitive and fitting alterna-

tive to incarceration.

To obtain information for PSIs, probation officers

interview offenders; review their criminal, educa-

tional, and military records; and contact family mem-

bers and others who know important details about the

offender’s life. The PSI report presents the judge with

the offender’s comprehensive social, criminological,

and psychological profile. The report covers the

offender’s history of treatment for medical, psychi-

atric, and substance use disorders as well as the cir-

cumstances of the offense. In addition, it covers his or

her social and family relationships, present living con-

ditions, and financial and housing status.

The PSI report also describes the resources available

to help people who might be sentenced to probation and

contains specific sentencing recommendations, if

requested by the court or required by the statute. A pro-

bation officer can present his or her opinions regarding

the offender’s motivation and readiness to change and

the circumstances surrounding the offender’s criminal

involvement. The PSI formulates an appropriate super-

vision or treatment plan, and if the person is sentenced

to prison, it helps prison administrators decide whether

the person should be placed in a minimum-, medium-,

or maximum-security facility. Probation officers exer-

cise discretion when conducting a PSI, deciding what

questions to ask, how to ask the questions, what details

to include in or exclude from the report, and whether

the offender will be better served by probation or

imprisonment.

Probation officers display their own particular

styles in the PSI information-gathering process.

For example, the officer whose style reflects a social

work orientation might focus on psychological data,

whereas the officer oriented toward rule enforcement

might focus on the offender’s criminal record and cur-

rent charges. Individual differences among officers

and variations in department standards produce wide

disparities in the manner in which presentence inves-

tigations are prepared by officers and used by judges.

Postconviction Decisions

Probation requires offenders to be supervised in the

community under conditions of release. All probation-

ers are subject to statutorily mandated or standard

conditions of release, such as reporting to their proba-

tion officer and getting permission from the sentenc-

ing judge to leave the jurisdiction. They also are

prohibited from owning a gun. An arrest on probation

constitutes a violation that could result in a prison sen-

tence. The special conditions of probation can be

punitive (paying restitution) or rehabilitative (attend-

ing drug treatment) and are designed to respond to the

particular facts of the case or needs of the offender.

Probation officers are responsible for enforcing the

conditions of probation and reporting to the court vio-

lations of probation.

Shortly after an offender is sentenced to probation,

probation officers conduct an intake interview to

assess an offender’s risk and needs. Risk assessment

strategies evaluate the likelihood that an offender will

be rearrested while on probation, whereas need assess-

ment strategies evaluate offenders’ problems and needs

for services in areas such as addiction, mental health,

and employment. Probation officers use case classifi-

cation tools that structure their decisions about case

management strategies. These tools contain static (age,

instant offense, and number of previous convictions)

and dynamic (employment, educational level, and sub-

stance use disorders) factors. The most common tool,

the Level of Service Inventory–Revised, examines

both dynamic and static variables to classify cases for

supervision and services.

In the intake assessment process, probation officers

must determine the degree to which offenders are

likely to recidivate and identify which members of

their caseloads pose a threat to public safety. Based on

this determination, officers devise and implement a

622 ———Probation Decisions

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