ABSTRACT
The main function of the prehearing report in juvenile court proceedings is to present the sociocultural and psychodynamic factors which influenced the juvenile's alleged delinquent behavior. Authorities generally agree on the necessity and importance of the prehearing report in juvenile court proceedings without seeking any objective verificaton of its predictive validity. In published literature of criminology, law, and probation, only one objective study focuses exclusively on the prehearing report; however, presentence and prehearing reports have been evaluated in connection with other research subjects. In an extensive examination of juvenile courts in New York City, Eddy found that "a small but significant group of judges ignores completely, or almost completely, the costly and time-consuming probation investigation." The subgroup of Minnesota probation officers who disagreed with the way that the court generally was believed to view the prehearing report sections appeared to be oriented toward a psychodynamic or broader social casework approach than the majority of the officers.
