User:Julyattitude/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Presentence investigation report

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose to evaluate this article because it is relevant to a genre study in my English course. Presentence investigation reports are critical documents in crime sentencing, so this article can guide its readers’ understanding of how people are sentenced to probation or incarceration, and who has a hand in their sentence. My impression of the article is that it contains valuable and pertinent information, and offers a fairly thorough overview of PSIRs. I do not consider it a complete overview because many citations are missing and because it leaves some questions about PSIRs unanswered.

Evaluate the article
Content

The content is organized in logical sections and generally offers a strong overview of PSIRs. I found the “Purpose” section to be especially helpful in my understanding of PSIRs. Two sections in particular could be more thorough, in my opinion.

The history section quickly brushes through the change in PSIRs that occurred in the 1970s. A more detailed explanation of how and why PSIRs changed would be useful. Caren Converse found that the number of subheadings on PSIRs at a particular police department dwindled over time, and this study might be helpful to include to show exactly how PSIRs changed in the 20th century. Alternatively, a different study around the same shift might bolster credibility. Citing Converse, the article mentions that public fear of crime was “partially attributable” for the shift in PSIRs from outline social background to criminal history. That begs the question: what else contributed to this change?

Also in this section, the article states, “There is considerably more extralegal information contained within the PSIR.” As compared to what?

I think a helpful addition of content to this article would be to answer the question: How influential are PSIRs? After the officers testify to the facts of their documents, how often do the judges adhere to the officers recommendations?

I also think it would be smart to bring the conversation about PSIRs to the present by pointing to how statistical models are changing PSIRs, further eliminating the narrative aspect of the document.

Sources

There are no citations in three sections: preparation, review of records, and writing and revision. Finding and citing sources for the statements in these sections is important to this articles credibility.