Bad or Mad: The Psychiatrist in the Sentencing Process

Abstract

Circumstances in which presentence psychiatric reports are requested and their use and influence on judicial sentencing are examined through both offender histories of men convicted of a sex offense and interviews with judges. Offenders for whom a report was ordered and those sentenced without a report were compared. The seriousness of the offense, previous record, and age of victim were among factors significantly related to ordering a report. The presence of a report did not generally affect the type or length of the sentence. The recommendation of the psychiatrist and the sentence corresponded in only half the cases, a finding lower than that expected from research with probation reports and some scholarly opinion.