26Pre-sentence reports

1. Except as provided in section 26A, if an offender who is charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment is found guilty or pleads guilty, the court may direct a probation officer to prepare a report for the court in accordance with subsection (2).

2. A pre-sentence report may include—

3. information regarding the personal, family, whanau, community, and cultural background, and social circumstances of the offender:
4. information regarding the factors contributing to the offence, and the rehabilitative needs of the offender:
5. information regarding any offer, agreement, response, or measure of a kind referred to in section 10(1) or the outcome of any other restorative justice processes that have occurred in relation to the case:
6. recommendations on the appropriate sentence or other disposition of the case, taking into account the risk of further offending by the offender:
7. in the case of a proposed sentence of supervision, intensive supervision, or home detention, recommendations on the appropriate conditions of that sentence:
8. in the case of a proposed sentence of supervision, intensive supervision, or home detention involving 1 or more programmes,—
   1. a report on the programme or programmes, including a general description of the conditions that the offender will have to abide by; and
   2. confirmation that the report has been made available to the offender:
9. in the case of a proposed sentence of supervision, intensive supervision, or home detention involving a special condition requiring the offender to take prescription medication, confirmation that the offender—
   1. has been fully advised by a person who is qualified to prescribe that medication about the nature and likely or intended effect of the medication and any known risks; and
   2. consents to taking the prescription medication:
10. in the case of a proposed sentence of community work,—
    1. information regarding the availability of community work of a kind referred to in section 63 in the area in which the offender will reside; and
    2. recommendations on whether the court should authorise, under section 66A, hours of work to be spent undertaking training in basic work and living skills:
11. in the case of a proposed sentence of intensive supervision or possible release conditions for a proposed sentence of imprisonment for 24 months or less, the opinion of the chief executive of the Department of Corrections as to whether—
    1. a condition that prohibits the offender from entering or remaining in specified places or areas at specified times or at all times (a whereabouts condition in this paragraph) would facilitate or promote the objective of reducing the risk of the offender reoffending while subject to the sentence or release conditions; and
    2. a whereabouts condition would facilitate or promote the objective of rehabilitating and reintegrating the offender; and
    3. a further condition requiring the offender to submit to electronic monitoring of his or her compliance with a whereabouts condition is warranted, having regard to the likelihood of non-compliance with the whereabouts condition.

12. The court must not direct the preparation of a report under subsection (1) on any aspects of the personal characteristics or personal history of an offender if a report covering those aspects is readily available to the court and there is no reason to believe that there has been any change of significance to the court since the report was prepared.

13. On directing the preparation of a report under subsection (1), the court may indicate to the probation officer the type of sentence or other mode of disposition that the court is considering, and may also give any other guidance to the probation officer that will assist the officer to prepare the report.

14. If a court has directed the preparation of a report under subsection (1), the probation officer charged with the preparation of the report may seek the further directions of the court on—

15. any particular item of information sought by the court; or
16. any alternative sentence or other mode of disposition that may be considered by the court if it appears that the sentence or other mode of disposition under consideration is inappropriate.