I don't know if I could help you because it seems to me now that everything I did was wrong. If you have any luck with it let me know. Sorry

We were very lucky with my husband's PSI report. Some of it will depend on the person writing the report and what prejudices and opinions they bring to the table. Some will depend on the severity of your son's crime. We were extremely lucky - no previous crimes, regular middle class lifestyle, married, and he had a great report from the psychologist the defense atty hired. We also gave the PSI report officer about 10 supportive letters from 8 friends and relatives, many of whom have young children. Mostly girls. They wrote how his behavior (possession of teen nudity) was VERY outside what they knew about my husband. And they all testified that they would trust him with their children. And ANY and all evidence you can get about your son's exemplary behavior - I don't know how old he is. volunteerism? teachers? report cards? My husband and I used to teach women's rape prevention for gawd's sake! So there are many variables, as I've mentioned here, but I sure wish you a lot of luck, and hope you get a good guy, and a good judge. Blessings!

Johnstxmom, thanks so much for responding. It would still be helpful to know you experience and why you think your efforts were ineffective.

Claire53, thanks to you, also. Your post is very much appreciated.

Honest;

My so called pre sentence was just a form where probation just filled in the blanks. There was no investigation, just "checking" the boxes that pertained to the type of conviction......

My 2 Honorable Discharges(different Services) counted for nothing.............

No matter how much good your Son has done,,, It will not make a difference......

I'm sorry I can't be more positive, but that was my experience.........

ps.
I have to admit that I had a VERY cool Probation Officer and after a few months, he stopped coming over to my house, and went to the Court and secured my release from supervision after only 18 mos.

I guess it just depends on the luck of the draw???

@ Coastie - you're kidding! Your PO got you off Fed supervision? How long had the court assigned you to begin with? I didn't know such things happened. Could you supply more detail? I'd like to tell my husband about this, as he just started his.

Here's an interesting and similar experience but with the therapist at the initial evaluation:
When the therapist asked him if he thought his sentence had been fair, he replied no, and that The whole thing is unjust because we shouldn't be jailing people for their thoughts and the therapist replied, "Well, for what its worth, I agree with you." I was pretty glad to hear that.

My son's story was not at all good. This man came in convinced my son was a monster and told him so. He was horrible. My son's charges was for CP. My son was a police officer and volunteer firefighter/first responder and volunteered hundreds of hours in the community as well as his church. We had letters from mayors, judges, sherriffs, chief of police, bank presidents...nothing mattered to this man. He even said he could not find a single person who had anything bad to say about my son, still, he believed he knew the truth and that was it. I hope and pray this is not your experiance.

My son's story was good and bad. The PO asked the court to give him probation. She had us get letters from his high school teachers (he had just graduated), the pastors and elders of the church, neighbors, friends and family members. Which I really think, helped her make the decision to put him on probation instead of prison time. However, ultimately, it IS the judges decision and it didn't help my son. But depending on the relationship between the PO and judge, it can help.
Keep us posted!
My prayers are with you!
RWsMom

Clair53;
My conviction was State and probation was 36 months + 60 days in jail (work release so I only slept there).
I was lucky, my plea had a 402 step down which, with a satisfactory probation report, reduces the conviction one level, in my case from a felony 3 to an A misd. and there is no record of a felony conviction.
I can give a little advice to your Husband,,,, always be straight up with his PO, whether he is a jerk or cool.
With mine, I heard stories about people who tried to screw with him and you can guess the outcome....

When it comes to the PSI in WI the PO that gives the PSI is someone local. My husband has had one private, one done by the state and another one that was an amendment done by the state. The state always portrayed him as some kind of sex crazed person while the one that we had done privately by an ex PO officer of 20 years held little to no weight.

I do wonder if we had gotten someone more local for our PSI if the judge would have done anything differently, but even after the psych review that we had 'amended' as well. That doc was someone that the judge knew and respected (he said that in the court transcripts) he didn't pay no nevermind to that professional's opinion because it was an election year and he did not want to look soft on 'people like my husband' (something he also said in the sentencing hearing, which gave my father a new perspective yet again about the legal system in this country, he already hates lawyers, this just added icing to that cake, since they were now picking on his new son-in-law)

I would follow along the lines of Coastie, don't lie to them... but don't volunteer things either, they are trained to interrogate and to trick people into saying things they didn't want to divulge or that they do not mean at all as well. They have been taught to twist what you say to fluster you so that you get confused and then they can undermine your own memory with that doubt they have laid out in you. These are the things that can't do you wrong though. First BE POLITE, please, thank yous, excuse mes, etc... Answers should be short, no elaboration, if they want to know something they need to ask... They are NOT your friends, no matter what they say will 'help you' they are looking out for their own butts, they are looking out for their own quotas and they are using YOUR money to fight with YOU so make their job as hard as possible. Let them have to 'work' for the information that they want to use to screw you...