How to get your reference letters right
What a reference has to contain to be given any weight, who to ask, how to brief them, and an annotated example.
12.1What a reference does
Purpose
The Judge knows two things about you before you speak: what the facts sheet says and what your record says. A reference is the only document that lets a third party tell the court who you are the rest of the time. It goes to the first of the four s 10(3) matters from Lesson 9, your character and antecedents, and it corroborates the third, extenuating circumstances, if the writer can speak to them.
Judges read hundreds of references a year and discard most of them within a sentence. A reference carries weight in proportion to how specifically it is written for this court appearance, by a person who knows about the charge, about things they have actually seen. Everything below follows from that.
12.2The four requirements
Non-negotiable
It is addressed to the court. "The Presiding Judge, [court] Local Court" at the top, dated, and signed. An employment reference written for a job application is not a court reference and will be treated as irrelevant.
The writer says they know about the charge. In the first paragraph: "I am aware that [name] has pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited drug on [date] and that this letter is for the court sentencing that matter." A reference from someone who appears not to know why they are writing tells the Judge the writer was not told, and undermines everything after it.
It describes things the writer has seen, not opinions about you. "He is a good person" is an opinion. "He has worked a 6 am start in my warehouse for three years and has never been late" is an observation. "She was devastated when she told me, and she has not been out with that group since" is an observation about remorse. The Judge weighs observations.
The writer is who they say they are and can be contacted. Full name, occupation, relationship to you, how long they have known you, phone number. Employers on letterhead. Judges do not phone referees, but a reference that could be checked reads differently from one that could not.
12.3Who to ask
Choosing
Three references from three different parts of your life. A fourth adds little. The combination that works best on a possession charge is an employer or supervisor, a person who has known you for many years and is not a parent, and someone who can speak to what has changed since the charge, such as a counsellor, a coach or a friend you have talked to about it.
Parents and partners can write, but the Judge discounts them, because they would say anything. If a parent is the only person who can speak to a particular thing, such as a difficult period at home that explains the offence, let them write about that and nothing else.
Do not ask anyone who has a criminal record themselves, anyone who was present at the offence, or anyone you would have to explain the charge to for the first time in the asking. Do not ask your current drug dealer's friend. It happens.
12.4How to brief the writer
The ask
Most people give a bad reference because nobody told them what a good one looks like. Send each writer the same short email. Tell them the charge, the plea, the court and the date. Tell them the four requirements above. Ask them to write half a page to a page, in their own words, covering: how they know you and for how long, what they have observed about you, what they saw when you told them about the charge, and anything they know about the consequences a conviction would have for you. Tell them not to comment on the law, not to say what sentence you should get, and not to say you would never do it again. Give them a date a week before you need it.
Then read what they send you before it goes anywhere near the court. A reference that gets a fact wrong, calls the charge by the wrong name, or says something the facts sheet contradicts does damage. Ask for corrections politely and give the writer the exact wording if it helps.
12.5An annotated example
Template
[Letterhead if available]
[Date]
The Presiding Judge
[Court] Local Court
Re: [Full name], possess prohibited drug, listed [date]
Your Honour,
My name is [name]. I am the [position] at [business], and I have employed [first name] as a [role] since [month year]. I am aware that [first name] has pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited drug on [date] and that this letter is for the court when it sentences that matter. [Knows about the charge, in the first paragraph.]
[First name] works a [describe roster] and in [X] years I have not had cause to speak to [him/her] about attendance or conduct. In [month] [he/she] was promoted to [role], which involves [responsibility]. I mention this because it requires a level of trust and reliability that I would not extend to someone I had concerns about. [Observation, with a reason it matters.]
[First name] told me about this charge on [date], before I heard about it from anyone else. [He/She] was plainly ashamed, did not make excuses, and asked what it would mean for [his/her] job. Since then [he/she] has [specific thing the writer has seen: completed a program, stopped socialising with a group, taken on extra responsibility]. [What the writer saw, not what they were told to say.]
A conviction would affect [first name]'s employment in the following way: [specific: licence, clearance, client site access, promotion]. I would want to keep [him/her] on, but [consequence]. [Consequences of a conviction, from the person who knows.]
I am happy to be contacted on [phone] if the court requires anything further.
Yours faithfully
[Signature]
[Name, position]
What the example does not do
It does not say the writer is sure it will never happen again. It does not ask for a particular sentence. It does not describe the offence. It does not use the word "mistake". The Judge decides all of those things.
12.6On the day
Presentation
Originals, signed, flat, in a folder. One copy for the prosecutor. A second copy for you to read from. Hand the originals to the court officer when you tender them, as Lesson 22 describes. Do not staple references to your apology letter, because the Judge reads them separately.
Write down three names, one from each category in 12.3. Send the briefing email today. Put the return date in your phone.