Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 1: General provisions about sentencing Section 160: Other reports of local probation boards and members of youth offending teams
466.This section re-enacts section 157 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act. It applies where a report (other than a pre-sentence report) is made by a probation officer or a member of a youth offending team with a view to assisting the court in deciding how best to deal with a person in respect of an offence (subsection (1)). Where the court does obtain a written report other than a pre-sentence report, copies of it must be provided to the persons specified in this section. Normally this should be the offender or his legal representative and the parent or guardian of an offender who is under 18. Where the offender is under 18 and it appears to the court that the disclosure of a report to the offender or his parent or guardian would cause harm to the offender, the court is not obliged to give a copy to the offender or his parent or guardian if present in court (subsection (3)).