Writing the Short Assessment Report

The information to include in each section of the short assessment report is outlined in the following blocks, including:

• front page
• offence pattern
• assessment
• advice
• recommendation
• sources of information, and
• attachments.

Guiding principles

Probation officers should consider the information contained in the chapter ‘Considering Sentencing Options’ before they begin writing the report.

For more information, go to  Considering Sentencing Options.

The report should be written in language which is simple, clear and concise. Use plain English, not CPPS jargon or technical language. Although the court is the primary recipient of this report, the offender should also be able to understand its content.

Avoid repeating information in different sections of the report.

Information not necessary for the court, but essential to the management of offenders within Corrections, should not be included in the pre-sentence report. Consider recording this information in the offender information report.

For more information, go to  Offender Information Report.

Front page

Include the following details on the front page:

• name
• address
• age
• date of birth
• sentence date
• counsel
• offences
• court (e.g. district or high) and location (e.g. Wellington), and
• date of report.

Offence pattern

This section of the report should contain the following information:

• a review of the offences for which the offender is to be sentenced, and
• a statement only on whether the offender agrees or disagrees with the summary of facts. Avoid mitigating on behalf of the offender.

Notes:

• If the offender has pleaded guilty, a strong indication that the offender disagrees can result in the judge having to consider whether a sentence can be imposed at that time.
• If the conviction is the result of a not guilty hearing or jury trial, the summary of facts should not be referred to or canvassed with the offender.
• If an offender continues to deny the offending, record this, particularly if they were found guilty at a defended hearing.
• Summarise the offences for which the offender has been previously convicted. Record any patterns in offending.
• Note if the offender has any charges pending.
• Note the offender’s insight into offending.
• Canvass:
  • remorse and victim empathy
  • willingness or offer to make amends or pay reparation, and
  • willingness to participate in the restorative justice process.
• if possible, include the victim’s response to any offer of reparation.

Note: Victims’ responses to reparation can be obtained either:

• directly (if appropriate)
• through the court victims’ advisor, or
• from the information contained in a reparation report.

Assessment

Briefly describe the offender’s current social circumstances. Include:

• accommodation
• domestic situation (key relationship)
• employment (full; part-time; self-employed, history, if employed, how long?)
• finances (if relevant), and
• gang affiliations (if any).

Note: If community detention is being canvassed in the report, detailed information about the proposed residence and/or relevant occupants will be contained in the appendix. Therefore these details need only be mentioned briefly in this section of the report.

Describe any issues relevant to sentencing. These may include:

• risk of further offending (do not give RoC*RoI score, describe risk as either low, moderate or high)
• AUDIT/DAST/NINE scores
• health (physical and/or mental)
• previous responses to sentences, include basic work & living skills (BWLS)
• fines information
• summary of fines report from Collections (if provided)
• safety risk factors identified at screening
• comment on the outcome of any specialist assessment
• identified automatic rehabilitative needs, if relevant
• issues arising from consulting the victim(s), and
• willingness to make amends/reparation.

Describe any concerns about the offender’s ability to comply with the sentence. Consider their:

• motivation
• transport issues
• childcare responsibilities
• intelligence, and
• physical health impediments (i.e. can they perform CW?).

Note: Housing New Zealand Tenancy Agreements

If an offender is proposing to move into a Housing New Zealand property where they are not the tenant, for three months or more, the tenant must obtain permission.

Housing New Zealand tenants must obtain written approval from Housing New Zealand for anyone to live with them for three months or longer.

The probation officer must check if the tenancy agreement was granted after 22 February 2010.  If it was, the probation officer must request a copy of the written approval from Housing New Zealand for the offender to live at that address.

It is the responsibility of the tenant to obtain a copy of the tenancy agreement and/or permission fom Housing New Zealand for an offender to reside at the address.

Advice

This section should summarise the issues. It should:

• address sentencing options directly, giving reasons for and against
• outline support for preferred sentencing option
• contain advice to the judge if an appendix relating to CD has been included in the report

Note: Only the decision (suitable or not) regarding CD is stated.  The details of suitability are contained in the appendix. 

• indicate if it has been assessed that the offender could benefit from attending BWLS. No explicit reference or condition should accompany this indication in the recommendation (e.g. the judge may wish to consider authorising BWLS, if considering CW)
• summarise any reparation outcome (if relevant)
• summarise any relevant information from a Collections report (if provided) and discuss how the information impacts on sentencing
• if there is a recommendation to cancel any existing sentences explain why, and
• acknowledge any judicial indication.

Note: If recommendation is not the judicial indication, clearly state reasons why.

Recommendation

Probation officers must make a recommendation. It may include more than one sentence but be careful not to net widen.

The recommendation should:

• be specific
• adhere to sentencing principles, purposes and guidelines
• include specific special conditions (if recommended in supervision).  Special conditions imposed by the judge will appear on the offender’s court order. Therefore it is essential that the wording of any special conditions is specific, legal and enforceable.
• include the minimum sentence length required to complete any rehabilitation programmes/special conditions of the sentence
• state a specific remand period if one is sought
• include the maximum hours that can be imposed for an offender being sentenced to community work
• include a request to cancel any current sentences (if appropriate)
• For community detention, the recommendation must include the length of sentence, and curfew conditions that must include:
  - curfew address
  - curfew hours, and
  - date of first curfew.

For more information, go to Wording of Special Conditions.

Sources of information

Other sources of information are included in reports for three main reasons:

• due to a legislative requirement
• to give an ‘overall’ picture of the offender, or
• to corroborate information given by the offender.

All sources of information should be identified. They generally include:

• interview with offender – include date of interview
• summary of fact(s) – not in case of not guilty hearing
• victim impact statement
• combined criminal and traffic history
• fines summary
• spouse, family, and wh?nau
• employer
• Corrections’ records and documents
• previous pre-sentence reports
• previous case officers
• staff from other agencies or departments not materially connected to the offending
• specialist input
• assessment tools (e.g: AUDIT/DAST/NINE), and
• health professionals.

Note:

• Departmental tools used should be recognised in either full name or in layman’s terms.
• Only name people such as spouse, family and wh?nau if their consent has been obtained.
• If information from the offender has not been checked, state why.
• If the offender disagreed with the collection of supporting information from others, make this clear.

Attachments

Attach the following to the report (if appropriate):

• summary of facts
• combined criminal and traffic history
• fines summary
• fines report from Collections (if provided)
• appendix for community detention (CD)
• statement of means form (if relevant)
• information about any programme or other intervention (content and provider) recommended as a special condition of supervision, and
• consent form for any special condition involving the taking of prescription medicine.

Do not list victim impact statements

Do not list victim impact statements as attachments. Anything listed as an attachment will always be available with the report, and offenders are not to be given victim impact statements to keep.

The original victim impact statement should instead be placed on the original report to court and a copy attached to the CPPS copy.

Legislative reference: Section 23, Victims’ Rights Act 2002.