Presentence Reports and Sentencing Plans

In 2009 the General Assembly ordered the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Correction to study the feasibility of conducting presentence investigations on “all offenders convicted of felonies for which the sentencing judge has the option of intermediate or active punishments.” S.L. 2009-451, sec. 19.14. The study was completed earlier this year, and a report on it is available here. It’s not the first time the issue has been studied. A similar report was completed in 1988 pursuant to Chapter 19 of the 1987 Session Laws, which ordered AOC to study whether presentence reports “should be mandatory for any, or all, offenses.” You can read that report here. Both studies were prompted—at least in part—by recognition of the fact that far fewer presentencing reports are done in North Carolina than in most other states. In some jurisdictions they are all but mandatory, at least for certain crimes or categories of offenders. Both study reports posit that one reason presentence reports might be rare in North Carolina is that some in our criminal justice system simply don’t know what options are available for obtaining additional information about a defendant before sentencing. This post summarizes the options. Presentence Investigation (PSI). Under G.S. 15A-1332(b), a court may, after conviction, order a probation officer to make a presentence investigation of any defendant. When a PSI is ordered a probation officer must “promptly investigate all circumstances relevant to sentencing and submit either a written report or an oral report either on the record [...]