Services Available

State and Federal sentencing reports generally include all of the following items. However, services easily can be tailored to include specific tasks as needed.

  • Prepare Social History
  • Review Pre-Sentence Report by Department of Corrections for accuracy and alternative recommendations
  • Obtain client records
  • Find needed experts
  • Coordinate treatment
  • Prepare witnesses and client for Sentencing Hearing
  • Produce or obtain photography, videos
  • Find appropriate sources of community services
  • Obtain letters of support

Federal Sentencing Advocacy

Thorough forensic social work and sentencing advocacy can be used effectively at the federal level to discover “aggravating or mitigating circumstances of a kind or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines that should result in a sentence different from that described.”

Prior to Booker, Judges granted downward departures that have held up through the process of review and potential reversal wherein were used a number of reasons or factors for reductions. Now that the guidelines are designated as advisory, these factors (listed below) could be even more helpful in obtaining reasonable sentences.
  • Learning disorders, reduced capacity / mental health
  • Abusive / dysfunctional home environment
    • Criminal family influence
    • Drug / alcohol addiction of parents
    • Neglect
  • Cultural conflict
    • The role of culture in confession statements
  • Confluence of circumstances related to the crime and the defendant
    • Coercion and duress
  • Aberrational nature of the defendant's conduct
  • Susceptibility to abuse in prison
  • Rehabilitation efforts, pre- and post- arrest
  • Overstatement of criminal history