Sentencing decisions need greater scrutiny, but judges
must also be equipped with the information they need.
It is the role of the Probation Service to provide judges
with pre-sentence reports (PSRs), which set out greater
information about the character and circumstances of an
offender (see box on next page). These reports ‘assist the
court in determining the most suitable method of dealing
with an offender’156 – and may be particularly important for
shedding light on individuals from backgrounds unfamiliar
to the judge. This is vital considering the gap between
the difference in backgrounds – both in social class and
ethnicity – between the magistrates, judges and many of
those offenders who come before them.