Los Angeles Pre-Plea Probation Report
All felony cases that go through the Los Angeles County court system, if they're criminal, require a pre-plea probation report. It's also possible to plead to the case and get the same probation report; it just wouldn't be obtained beforehand. But, just about all judges will not sentence a criminal defendant unless they have reviewed a probation report.
A probationary report is when the probation department assigns a probation officer to evaluate a defendant. They'll run their criminal record. They may try to talk to them if the defendant and their
The attorney agrees, or they can do the pre-plea probation report without talking to the defendant.
They will evaluate their criminal case, looking at all the facts and details. They will talk to any witnesses and victims. Then, they will write a report for the judge with a recommendation as to the punishment for the defendant's behavior.
Criminal Record Check
One good resource for these reports is they run a pretty good criminal record check on a particular defendant. So, if you're telling the prosecutor or the judge that your client has no criminal record and you have a probation report that shows no criminal record – no law enforcement contacts, no arrests, no convictions – then you're in a pretty strong position that they'll believe that the person has no criminal record and take that into account when deciding how to resolve the matter.
Also, you can get a good probation report in which the probation officer writes some good things about your client, points out that they have no prior felony convictions, and says they didn't do any violence in the case, for example.
When you're a defense attorney in a criminal case, you can use that when negotiating with the prosecutor and judge. You can point to a page in the pre-plea probation report that helps your client. On the other hand, if your client has a horrible record and there are many bad things associated with your client's case, the victims will say many bad things about your client to the probation officer. This would hurt a criminal defendant in a lot of different ways.
Significant Sentence for Bad Criminal History
The prosecutors and the judge will read that and probably hold it against the client. Also, the judge may use some of the things in there against your client in formulating a lousy sentence for them. Finally, suppose your client has a bad criminal record. In that case, that probation report will show that the person will be looking at a more significant sentence than they usually would with a clean record.
A lot of times, what the prosecutors will do or say is that your probation report shows your client did three years last time. I'm going to give him six this time. He didn't learn his lesson.
So, to be an effective criminal defense attorney, you need to know how to deal with probation reports and the probation department. Most of the time, I do not let them interview my client because my client may say something that either hurts them or incriminates them in some way.
What if you do the probation report and then decide to take the case to trial and have your client blabbing their mouth off? They could call the probation officer as a witness against your client in the trial. You don't want to do that. You have to be careful as a defense attorney.
There are cases where they have the goods on my client. The person will not go to trial, and they would make a good impression on the probation officer and could say many good things. In that case, I might even let the probation officer interview them. I've done that before and got good probation reports from probation officers. I have used those to effectuate favorable resolutions for my client.
Benefit Of A Probation Report
As I've indicated above, there are some benefits. You could get your clients to endear themselves to the probation officer. You could point out that they have no criminal record. Sometimes, depending on the circumstances of the case, the victims might even say good things about the client.
Beyond that, for the most part, these probation reports are a waste of time. The judges are supposed to read them. I'm sure some of them do, but I'm sure some of them don't. They don't have much respect for the probation officers because probation officers don't put the time and effort into these probation reports, so it's a half-hearted effort. A lot of times, the probation reports are late, and they need to carry correct facts. Sometimes, the probation officers must correct the reports from the last one they did.
So, I would say, for the most part, in my opinion – having done criminal defense now for twenty-five years – I would say these probation reports are pretty much a waste of time. You can get a lot of the information in them from other sources.
For example, a probation report always runs a criminal history check. Yes, I've used that before, but by the same token, the prosecutors can run a criminal history check on their system, and it's just about as solid and accurate as the probation department's system.
I would have much more credence and credibility for these probation reports if the judges and prosecutors looked at them and considered them when they said something good about a criminal defense. Of course, they'll use that if they say something wrong about the criminal defendant.
So, if you're a criminal defendant, I don't see much benefit to getting a probation report, and now, very slowly, I'm starting to see many judges let you waive it.
That just started recently. I don't know how much longer probation reports – either pre-plea or post-plea are going to be around, but they can be helpful under minimal circumstances. Still, for the most part, they are a waste of time. You should rely on your criminal defense attorney and let them strategically guide you through the criminal justice system instead of relying on a probation report from somebody who doesn't know you and has limited information.