Tell the court how you know the person and how many years you have known them for.
Tell the court the good things about them you have seen.
Find out what the police say they did.
Write down if you know why they did that. For example: trouble with their family, work or school.

A reference letter helps the judge to know the person’s story.
The judge can give them a punishment (sentence) that might help them stay out of trouble in the future.

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Text based resources about this topic

Read

Guide to character reference writing

A NTĀ Legal Aid guide to character reference writing.

Resources to listen to

Listen

Story: Sentencing (Yolngu Matha)

You can listen to this story about sentencing in Yolngu Matha. Click here for more audio stories like this.

 

Character reference (Yolngu Matha)

This audio explains the word character referenceĀ in Yolngu Matha. Click here for more recordings like this.

 

Glossary: What these words mean

sentence

In criminal law, sentence means ‘to punish’ or ‘punishment’. The punishment comes from a judge in a court.

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