Three Other Parties Who Can Read A Presentence Investigation Report

The presentence investigation report is an important legal document compiled to determine how light or how heavy a convicted individual’s penalty should be. It is compiled by Probation and Parole officers who conduct a thorough investigation of the defendant’s background and circumstances. The sentencing process cannot proceed without the PSI report to back up any penalties that the court goes ahead with.

In many cases, the court provides copies of certain legal documents to individuals related to a case, which can include the defendant, the plaintiff, and their respective legal counsels. In the case of a PSI report, other parties can avail of copies via official request; it is still classified to the general public, however. Let’s look at three other parties who can access your PSI report on-demand.

Law Enforcement

Law enforcement agencies won’t always let a defendant off even if they’re already serving time. Most law enforcers can request a copy of a PSI report for future reference. Their copy can be used for:

• Possible arrests in the future for a similar offense
• Possible arrest in the future for a different offense
• Background check when the defendant moves to a different state
• Reference information when the defendant escape from prison/becomes a fugitive after skipping probation

Health Department

It may surprise some people that the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services can request access to a defendant’s PSI report. However, the department needs this information so they can better understand the physical, mental, psychological and emotional state of convicted individuals so they can provide better services to them. Matters pertaining to mentally-disturbed defendants, stress and nervousness, and the insanity defense are also of interest to health officials. Finally, crimes related to substance abuse are also recorded for future reference.

Gaming Control Board

The Nevada Gaming Control Board takes interests in crimes pertaining to cheating, card counting, casino markers, and theft. They also take notice of individuals who may be involved in skimming and organized crime within the state’s gaming industry. PSI reports can give Gaming Board officials important information regarding people involved in the aforementioned crimes, allowing them to provide proper stopgaps. They can also identify who to add to the Black Book. 

The ones listed above are just three of a group of government agencies who can access your PSI information through a formal request. Ask your lawyer about who else can read your PSI file.

Three Reasons Why Aggravating Factors Harm a Defendant

Aggravating factors are always bad news for your criminal charges. If you happen to be dealing with a murder complaint, for example, the proseuction will find ways to make the penalty more severe. They may even look for aggravating factors that can make it more difficult for the defense to overturn the charge.

Maybe this is your first criminal charge and you have no idea what a mitigating factor is. Why is it important for you to know it? Let’s look at three reasons why.

Increased Culpability

Mitigating factors aim to increase a person’s culpability, or guilt, for the crime they are accused of. Once the prosecution finds features that can determine a person’s direct link to the crime, they can use this angle to get a conviction much easier. It can also be harder to have a charge overturned once more aggravating factors connected to the defendant come to light.

More Severe Penalties

Most criminal cases may only be considered misdemeanors in some cases. As such, the accompanying penalties can also be relatively minor, like a brief period in prison, community service, mandatory rehabilitation, and fines. Aggravating factors can do away with all that by putting you at risk of an elevated charge. From a simple misdemeanor, other factors can have you facing a category C felony, with the equivalent penalties at risk. Even one pointer can have your charge raised up.

Possibility of Capital Punishment

Getting your misdemeanor charge elevated to a felony is bad enough with aggravating factors. However, they can also go all the way, putting you face to face with a possible death sentence for your charge. Worse, if the factor found is severe enough, no amount of counterpoints or mitigating factors can reduce the charge. The best you can hope is to present compelling evidence of your innocence, get a successful appeal or pardon, or negotiate a plea bargain.

Don’t ignore any possible aggravating factors that they can array against you! Ask your defense attorney about how to deal with them in court.

The Nevada DMV License Suspension System

The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles is responsible for providing driving licenses for the state’s vehicle owners. It also enacts rules that drivers must follow if they wish to keep driving in the state. The DMV can impose penalties on drivers who break these rules, including a license suspension or a revocation.

Of course, the DMV does not immediately penalize a driver if they are accused of committing a driving offense in Nevada. There is a process to follow when suspending licenses, for example. Let’s look at the Nevada DMV’s license suspension system.

Defining Suspensions

Before we get into details, let’s first explain what a suspension is in this context. A suspension refers to the temporary invalidation of a person’s driving license in the state. In effect, the driver cannot operate a motor vehicle in Nevada for a set period of time. Doing so will lead to even more penalties and possible extended prison time.

A license can be suspended for a number of reasons. In most cases, it is a penalty for reckless behavior behind the wheel, such as overspeeding, beating the red light, or getting involved in collisions and near collisions that do not involve injuries or loss of life. In some cases, getting arrested (but not yet convicted) for drunk driving can lead to an automatic 90-day suspension.

The Demerit System

For most driving crimes in Nevada, the DMV applies a points-based system to determine who is at risk of suspension. Certain charges have their own points, based on frequency and severity. A person with at least 12 demerit points in their record within the span of a year automatically gets their license suspended for a period of six months. The points system is briefly listed below:

• Speeding between 1mph to 10mph of the posted limit: 1 point
• Speeding between 11mph to 20mph of the posted limit: 2 points
• Speeding between 21 mph to 30 mph of the posted limit: 3 points
• Speeding between 31 mph to 40 mph of the posted limit: 4 points
• Speeding at 41 mph or more of the posted limit: 5 points
• Texting while driving: 4 points
• Disobeying an officer: 4 points
• Running a STOP sign: 4 points
• Failure to give information or render aid at the scene of an accident: 6 points
• Reckless driving: 8 points

Note that a person’s demerit points reset to zero only after a year has passed.

Suspension Relief

The DMV allows defendants to appeal against DUI-related license suspensions. They simply have to attend a DMV hearing regarding their situation, present their case, and await the decision.

If you’ve completed your license’s suspension period and you wish to have it reinstated, you will have to submit the paperwork to the DMV. On top of their standard forms, you may be required to submit other documents (insurance papers for example) as well. The length of time and types of documents required may depend on the severity of the case that led to the suspension.

License suspensions are no minor penalty; the accompanying penalties for violating them can compound an already tricky legal position. Consult your lawyer about how to minimize the chances of getting your license suspended in Nevada.

What’s the Difference Between a Jail and a Prison?

In the public consciousness, a ‘jail’ and a ‘prison’ are one and the same. To most people, they are just two terms for a facility that detains prisoners who committed crimes. It is not uncommon to hear ‘she went to jail after being convicted’ in regular conversations.

What many people may not know is that these terms actually refer to different correctional facilities. Jails and prisons actually play different roles within Nevada’s justice system. Let’s look at the differences between these two.

What’s a Jail?

A jail is a correctional facility meant to temporarily hold a defendant after their arrest. Defendants stay in jail at least until they have posted bail for their crimes, unless their charge does not allow bail or they choose not to post it. It also holds defendants who are awaiting trial for their crimes.

People are partially right in thinking that people do go to jail as punishment. However, people staying in jail after a conviction are only misdemeanor offenders, and don’t stay very long. At most, they will spend six months in jail to serve their sentence.

What’s a Prison?

A prison is a correctional facility meant for long-term or permanent incarceration of convicted individuals. All of its detainees are felony offenders and serving out their sentences in the facility. Many of its inmates are serving time for committing dangerous crimes.

Prison security ranges from minimum (or around the same level as a county jail) to extremely heavy, depending on the prison. Maximum-security prisons holding high-risk detainees are often equipped with high-end security equipment to deter escapes and staffed with personnel well-trained for handling such prisoners.

The justice system is a complex network with different sections that play a significant part. Knowing how its seemingly similar segments work actually differ from each other can help you better understand how justice is served.

Comparing Pardons to Records Sealing

Post-conviction relief procedures for crimes in Nevada proceed almost immediately after the sentence is read out. This usually involves appeals for a retrial or requests to invalidate the verdict. For convictions that happened further in the past, other options are often in place. Getting a pardon is one of the most common steps taken.

A pardon is a major first step in a convicted individual’s journey to get their life back. However, it does not always have all the benefits of post-conviction relief; some other factors, like record sealing, are an entirely different matter. Let’s compare how pardons and records sealing stand up to each other.

Receiving Pardons

Pardons are generally legally-recognized declarations that a person is forgiven of the crimes they have committed. The pardon is handed down by a higher executive authority, often after a thorough legal review or as part of a general amnesty program. It also may or may not require the defendant to submit a request, depending on the circumstances of the crime.

The benefits of a pardon in Nevada are considerable. For one, pardoned individuals regain most of their civil rights. They can once again apply for employment, register for a gun license, purchase properties and vote, among other things. These things can still be affected by public perception and other legal implications, however.

Sealing Legal Records

A person’s legal record stays with them for a long time. It arguably has a greater effect on a person’s post-conviction life than the conviction itself, as it also lists all other legal records they may have had in the past. Certain individuals often look at a person’s legal record prior to dealing with them, like employers, business owners or service providers and may deny certain options to the person, however.

Records sealing help in these kinds of situations. The process puts a person’s legal record in a sealed archive that no entity can view except in the most extreme circumstances. Once in effect, a person will technically lose their criminal records. With the records hidden, a person will have less to worry about people doing background checks on them for various purposes.

Pardons vs Sealing

Both receiving a pardon and sealing criminal records offer major post-conviction relief to an individual after they’ve served a major sentence. However, their benefits and drawbacks set them apart significantly.

• Pardons can automatically restore a person’s rights as a free person. However, their previous convictions (particularly the one that they were convicted for) remain in their legal records, potentially putting a crutch in their attempts to reintegrate.
• Records sealing means that potential employers, firearms sellers, and certain service providers will not see any criminal records when they conduct background checks. On the other hand, it can still be unsealed under really severe circumstances. For example, a sealed record will be unsealed if you wish to work in government, or if you get charged for a new crime in the near future.

Post-conviction relief helps a defendant get most of their life back, but many of these options come with their own pros and cons. Consult a defense attorney to understand which post-conviction option will fit your circumstances.