what does the presentencing investigation consist of?

Answer 1

In addition to what Sacagawea stated, there are other things that are included in the Pre-Sentence Investigation.

The probation officer will do an NCIC search to find out the entire criminal history of the offender. Juvenile records can be included at the discretion of the probation officer. If necessary, the PO could contact those jurisdictions to get more information.

The PO will investigate to see if the offender was previously on probation, and will seek information on those supervisions. The PO will want to know if the offender successfully completed his terms, or if probation was revoked.

The PO will ask the offender lots of questions about the offender's family background, and will also ask about education and work history.

Answer 2

The presentencing investigation is done by the probation department. There is a form that the probation officer will use that will pin-point different areas the officer needs to look at.

A probation officer will look at everything concerning the crime (i.e. special circumstances, weapons involved, type of crime, etc.), they will talk to your family, the victim, the victims family (in some cases).

They will look at any mitigating factors concerning you or the crime (did you try to stop the crime from occurring, are you a single parent, etc.), and they will look at anything about you or the crime that might make it worse than normal (i.e. you've been arrested for the same crime before, you terrorized your victim during the crime, etc).

They will then take all this information and make a suggestion to the court as to what your sentence should be.