ABSTRACT
School reports to the courts influence decisions made about the lives of young people and are thus powerful documents. First, there is the process of how School Report Forms are initially designed to be completed by teachers. Evidence indicates, however, that school court reports can increase the severity of sentences, most probably as a result of teachers submitting information about a pupil which has no direct relevance to circumstances surrounding the offence. The compiling and presentation of reports, and the use made of them by magistrates for purposes of sentencing young people, is a complex issue. The research also concluded that magistrates had greater confidence in school reports than in others they received. The 1983 research focused on practice relating to school reports and the issue of confidentiality. The work of National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders has made a significant contribution to the very limited amount of research which has been carried out in the field.
