Bad or Mad: The Psychiatrist in the Sentencing Process

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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.

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