Presentence Evaluations of Offenders Can Be More Responsive to the Needs of the Judiciary

In order to report on how presentence psychiatric evaluations can be improved, GAO reviewed: (1) 157 cases where offenders were committed to the Federal Prison System for observation and study; and (2) 83 local studies ordered during fiscal year (FY) 1981.

GAO found that the observation and study process has not been as useful as it could be because the Judicial Conference of the United States and the Federal Prison System have not: (1) established criteria for the selection of appropriate cases for observation and study; (2) developed and disseminated guidance on the types of questions that experts can be expected to answer; or (3) established a system to evaluate whether studies have met the needs of the district courts. GAO found that judges did not provide study objectives and referral questions in 76 of the 157 cases it examined. In addition, GAO found that about 78 percent of all studies ordered in FY 1981 were performed by the Federal Prison System. GAO also found that the average cost of Federal Prison System studies was approximately twice the cost of local studies, and Federal Prison System studies took approximately twice as long to complete. For over 10 years, the Parole Commission has believed that its involvement in the studies for youthful offenders should be terminated. However, the enactment of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act should make a number of changes which should improve the process.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Arnold P. Jones Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 512-7797