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54 Fed. Probation 43 (1990)
The Predisposition Report: Maintaining the Promise of Individualized Juvenile Justice

handle is hein.journals/fedpro54 and id is 137 raw text is: The Predisposition Report: Maintaining the Promise of Individualized Juvenile Justice BY JOSEPH W. ROGERS Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico HIS IS an article about conservation. It seeks to preserve the predisposition report (PDR) from diminution and the dismal fate of the presentence report (PSR) as depicted by John Rosecrance (1985; 1988). Utilizing 15 years experience as an adult probation officer, ethnographic field methodology (Emerson, 1981), and grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), Rosecrance (1988, p. 255) concludes that individu- alized justice in the criminal courts is simply a 'nyth. He found the presentence investigation to be ceremonial, predictable, and of dubious value. Little wonder he did so, given the data from the probation officers in two California counties. These respondents live in a world dominated by cynical judges, prosecutors, and supervisors who consider social case histories to be just so much trivia. Their essential interest is in just two mat- ters: present offense and prior criminal record, without needless sociological or psychological trappings. The situation grows darker. To survive in this network, these officers must be perceptive, credible, and skillful writers of PSRs (Rosecrance, 1985; 1988). Perceptual accuracy is essential to knowing the prior wishes of those significant others, so that officer recommendations can be properly attuned. When uncertain, novice investigators may check with their more experienced colleagues for the safest course to follow. The credibility of each officer must be estab- lished within this social system by keeping their recommendations within ballpark boundaries, because these umpires keep score and hand out nasty labels such as bleeding heart for a liberal, maverick for a free thinker. Neither of these is apt to become a mossback--one putting in time until retirement. Complimentary labels are self- explanatory: team player and hard liner, which titles are more likely earned if one is guid- ed by self-interest and a retributive orientation toward criminal offenders. Writing skills are paramount for satisfactory reports. Savvy probation officers are guided by the sobering principle that controversy should be avoided. In the words of Rosecrance (1985, p. 548), In order to achieve this purpose, bland, innocuous presen- tence reports are encouraged. The officer is expected to use a prosaic syntax and to engage in sufficient obfuscation to ensure that the department cannot be held responsible for any future contingency. Probation officers are frequently told to 'remember CYA,' that is, don't forget to cover your ass. And further (Rosecrance, 1988, pp. 248-250), PSRs should be carefully proofed to reduce pos- sible inconsistencies between such items as defen- dant's attitudes and the probation officer's recom- mended sentence. If multiple collateral sources are available, be selective. Coherence is increased by avoiding persons who might weaken the con- clusion. Make a final check to ensure the PSR will go through the court without 'undue per- sonal hassle' The foregoing might have made good satire were the findings of this social researcher without serious implications. For some time, and as Rose- crance (1985, p. 539; 1988, pp. 236-237) observes, we have commonly found probation officer recom- mendations (1) in high agreement with judicial dispositions (Carter & Wilkins, 1967; Hagan, 1975; Curry, 1975; Kingsnorth & Rizzo, 1979); (2) as being followed by the judges (Blumstein, Mar- tin, & Holt, 1983); and (3) praiseworthy as guides to intelligent sentencing (Murrah, 1963, p. 67) or an important 20th century development in crim- inal law (Hogarth, 1971, p. 246). No wonder then that Rosecrance (1988) claims he has exposed a major myth, that of individual- ized justice (however, see Hamilton & Sanders, 1988; Drass & Spencer, 1987; Farnsworth, Frazier, & Neuberger, 1988). Instead, whatever justice occurs, transpires within an intimidating probation setting of job insecurity, powerful ad- versaries, preordained recommendations set to type. In the final analysis, probation officers are portrayed as low-status folks, doing dirty work in a devalued bureaucracy where Probation Offi- cers can play in the ball park but they don't make the rules (Rosecrance, 1985, p. 551). It would seem they hardly come to bat either.'

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