Once charged with a crime, an individual will appear in a local magistrates court. If the offence is less serious the case will be heard by three magistrates. They decide on guilt or innocence and, if guilty, decide the sentence. 

If the case is more serious, eg murder, serious assaults, serious financial crimes, rape, the magistrates will refer the case to the Crown Court where it will be heard by a Judge and guilt will be decided by a jury.

The probation service compiles pre sentence reports for the Crown Court and for magistrates' courts. These reports help sentencers to decide on the most suitable sentence.

There are four options open to the court

• discharges
• fines
• community sentences
• custody

Pre sentence reports

Once an individual is convicted, the magistrates or judge may ask for a report to be prepared by the probation service.  The sentencers will tell the probation service how serious they consider the offence to be and the purpose of the sentence eg to rehabilitate or punish the offender or to protect the public.

According to the type of report that the sentencers need, they may be able to pass sentence on the day of the first hearing. However if they require a more complex report the offender may have to return on another day for sentencing.

Standard pre sentence reports

Generally a full report is produced when an offence is relatively serious, the offender may pose a risk to other people or if they have offended before. There will be exceptions to this.

To compile the report, an officer from the probation service will interview the  offender. Usually this will be at the probation office on a different day from the court hearing. The court will tell the probation service when they wish to receive the report. The defendent will be either remanded in custody or be bailed.

A pre sentence report will look at the reasons why the person committed the offence, their attitude to the offence and to any victims and any other culpability factors. These might include inflicting more suffering/damage than was necessary  in the course of the offence or targeting a particularly vulnerable victim. The report will also look at any mitigating factors. The pre sentence report will also include an assessment of the offender's risk of harm and risk of reconviction.

Fast delivery report

A fast delivery report is similar to the standard report but is less detailed. It takes less time and may be compiled on the same day as conviction.  However, the probation service has up to five days to present this report to court if necessary.

Oral report

Download our Pre sentence report leaflet (PDF - 196k)

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