Post Pre-Sentencing Interview

Mental Health Should Matter—A Lot

Donald Trump completed his legally-mandated pre-sentencing interview with a New York City probation officer yesterday.  They met over video as a first step in the sentencing process, in which an officer assesses the convicted individual’s living situation, finances, mental health, substance use, and criminal record.  The officer then generates a report, which the trial judge can then use to help determine the convict’s punishment, which will occur for Trump on July 11, 2024.

This routine interview apparently took less than thirty minutes, but there were some unusual features.  Donald Trump is said to have had his lawyer, Todd Blanche, present with him, when he logged into the call from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, FL.  It is unusual to have a lawyer present for a Probation Department interview.  Also, since the coronavirus pandemic waned, these interviews have returned to being in-person, except for the most extenuating circumstances.

Nevertheless, the judge, Justice Juan Merchan, will have to take into consideration this pre-sentence report by the probation officer, Donald Trump’s ten contempt charges during the trial for violations of a gag order, which was intended to stop him from attacking witnesses, court personnel, and their family members—amounting to witness intimidation and obstruction of justice—for which the judge could have thrown him in jail immediately.  The judge also needs to consider his total lack of remorse and utter contempt for the process, which are always serious considerations at the time of sentencing.

In some instances, a social worker or psychologist working for the Probation Department may interview the defendant, going into almost any area of the defendant’s mental health, from mitigating factors to violence risk, to the need for further evaluation.  The probation officer may also interview the arresting officer, if there is one, the defendant’s lawyer, and the defendant’s family and friends.

This is the first time in history that a former U.S. president was convicted of a felony, which comes with privileges as well as responsibilities.  A jury of peers, which the defendant’s lawyer helped select, found him guilty on May 30, 2024, in a hush-money case intended to cover up a sex scandal with a porn star, Stormy Daniels.  Knowledge of the affair would have shed light on his lifelong pattern of deceptive and assaultive behavior, at a key moment that is thought to have determined the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.  In typical fashion, he micromanaged his records and employed “fixers” such as Michael Cohen, who would help cover up his criminal deeds through threats and bribes.

There are two types of deterrence for such felons: specific and general.  Specific deterrence is to deter the defendant from committing future offenses, whereas general deterrence is intended to let society know that the conduct was wrong and that they would be punished if they engaged in similar conduct.  Based on Donald Trump’s conduct and how vigorously his “followers” echo his message, the general deterrence factor should take on far more significance here than in a typical case.

Also considered at the time of sentencing are isolation and rehabilitation.  The isolation factor is where the protection of the public comes into play; it is so fundamental that it is seldom stated.  Rehabilitation involves using the sentencing as an opportunity to address the underlying causes of criminal behavior and to reeducate offenders to prepare them to reintegrate into society.  Since the “de-institutionalization” movement since the mid-twentieth century turned into “trans-institutionalization,” where 95 percent of those who would have been in mental hospitals are now in jails and prisons—and 65 percent of the nation’s jailed population is mentally ill, not counting personality disorders or substance abuse—a detailed review of mental health is critical.  And Trump has already shown, conservatively, symptoms of at least a dozen different psychiatric and neurological disorders.

A former New York prosecutor colleague told me:

All thirty-four counts are Class E felonies, punishable with a maximum—in an “indeterminate" range—of sixteen months to four years.  Jail not mandatory.  First-time offenders [usually] get probation.  But Trump’s loud, egregious behavior, showing contempt for the legal process, his obvious lack of remorse, and his potentially dangerous attacks on the judge, jury, prosecutors, witnesses, etc., clearly require some incarceration.  I think Judge Merchan has the gumption and integrity to impose this sentence.

He added:

Jail is a very real possibility here, and totally warranted….  My prediction is six months plus five years’ probation, and:

- He will stay out of jail on appeal;

- The conviction will be sustained on appeal;

- The sentence will be sustained on appeal.

“Politically”, he added, “it won’t hurt the fascist orangutan.”

The pre-sentence report phase is characterized as a “pre-sentence investigation of the defendant,” according to Section 390.30 of the Criminal Procedure Law.  Subdivision 2 is notable:

2. Physical and mental examinations.  Whenever information is available with respect to the defendant’s physical and mental condition, the pre-sentence investigation must include the gathering of such information.  In the case of a felony or a class A misdemeanor, or in any case where a person under the age of twenty-one is convicted of a crime, the court may order that the defendant undergo a thorough physical or mental examination in a designated facility and may further order that the defendant remain in such facility for such purpose for a period not exceeding thirty days” (emphasis added).

The most eminent living psychiatrists in existence are coming together in a panel to consider their input at this momentous time in history.  The results will be announced shortly.  Though this conviction concerns a case that is the least significant in terms of Donald Trump’s crimes, it more than plentifully illustrates Trump’s lifelong criminal patterns of deception and getting his way through threats, intimidation, and bribery.  It also represents his “original sin” of election interference that helped him “win” through deceit an election that he lost popularly by 3 million votes, that caused all the psychological calamities that followed from his occupying an office for which he was mentally unfit, and that foreshadowed the 2020 coup attempt as well as the 2025 coup already underway.  Finally, it is notable for being the only case allowed to proceed before a crucial election—the others being on election fraud, conspiracy against the government, and endangering national security through theft of classified documents—and this time, it is not only he and his private factotum but the Department of Justice, federal judges, Supreme Court justices, more extreme spinoffs of Fox “News”, and “Dr. Phil” with his 65 million viewers who are engaging in election interference.  This is why I have considered it important to illustrate in my new book, The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind, which is available now through paid subscription.