Once you are convicted or plead guilty, the judge almost always orders a probation officer to prepare a “presentence report” describing your offense, your prior criminal record, and your personal background information .  The sentencing judge will use this information to determine your sentence range under the guidelines. 

The probation officer usually gets information about your offense from the prosecutor and from law enforcement investigative reports and about your criminal record from the court records.  Input from you about your background can make a difference in lowering your sentence.  It is best to provide that information in writing rather than in person.  Your defense attorney can help you effectively present yourself and your background in light of the particular probation officer’s reputation for impartiality. A good guide for the kind of information a probation officer wants is the presentence interview worksheet, which can be found at.

You should not talk about your criminal record unless your attorney advises otherwise.  Prior convictions only increase the sentencing guideline range.  For similar reasons, sharing your alias or other name is rarely helpful.  Unless you feel remorse and can express it sincerely, talking about the offense or victim is a mistake that might lead enhancements that increase your sentencing guideline range.  Avoid discussing your drug use except as part of a genuine discussion of a drug problem and a desire to beat it can be a positive factor.  Defendants should remember that it is important to tell the truth about whatever they do talk about; lying to or misleading a probation officer is far more damaging than saying nothing at all.

The defense attorney should almost always be present at the presentence interview to guide the discussion away from harmful factors and toward those factors which could positively affect your presentence report and ultimately your sentence.  Your defense attorney has experience in these interviews, knows you and your case, and is on your side.  The probation officer is working for the court and has probably just met you.  It is an important interview, and you should accept help.

You will get the presentence report at least five weeks before your sentencing date and you will have two weeks to file objections to the report.  This includes both legal objections about the way the presentence report applies the sentencing guidelines and factual objections where the presentence report got the facts wrong.  You and your defense attorney should think carefully about whether to make a particular factual objection.  Many factual errors do not affect the guidelines and objecting to a fact sometimes just draws more attention to it making it seem more important than it really is.  It is important to carefully review your presentence report and discuss all errors with your attorney.  Any errors, even if they may not affect your sentence, can affect your security designation in prison.

Judges have always considered a person’s prior record in deciding a prison sentence.  A person who has committed more crimes in the past will generally get a longer sentence than a person who has not.  The idea, for better or for worse, is that harsher punishments are necessary for people who do not learn a lesson the first time.  The guidelines and sentencing judges tend to take the view that misconduct deserves greater punishment when it is repeated.