Dear Guest,

Your first challenge is to see who you should write the letter to. Ask your cousin, speak with his parole officer or someone and determine that information first. I urge you to begin writing your letter as soon as possible as you will likely require three or four iterations.

Okay, let's roll up our sleeves and start.

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Your name
Address
City, State
Zip Code

Date

Parole Officer's name
Position
Address
City, State
Zip Code


Dear Mr. Parole Officer:

The purpose of this letter is to comment on a recent situation in involving Mr. John Doe, who is my cousin and who is a recently released person on parole from [whatever institution]. I will provide the current situation and desired outcome, background information, and summary information.

Current Situation and Desired Outcome [1]

Mr. John Doe was found to have pepper spray, which is considered to be a weapon, in his possession on date X at location Y. As a consequence of the possession of pepper spray, he has been remanded back into custody and is awaiting trial. [2]

The pepper spray belonged to his girlfriend Sally Ann. She has pepper spray as means of self-defence after having been raped on date j.[3] Because the pepper spray does not belong to Mr. John Doe and because his of his excellent progress while on parole, I strongly urge [the courts or whatever body has control over his destiny] to release Mr. John Doe back to his prior parole status. We will comply with whatever rules are necessary to maintain his freedom and life progress.

Background Information [1] [5]

Mr. John Doe was convicted of [his crime goes here] on date . From date W to date V, he was in Institution C.

On date K, he was paroled. From date K to the present time, he has found an excellent job [4] as an [occupation] at [whatever company]. To further his career goals, he has enroled in [school name] to further learn about [specific skills or courses.] Upon graduation, he can look forward to......

During this time he has earned an honest income, gained employable skills, increased his self-confidence and self-worth, increased his life skills, and continued to contribute to society. Our family has never seen him with such drive, confidence and self-worth. We are very proud of him for his accomplishments and feel that this current incident should not destroy the progress that he has made to date.

Summary [1]

John Doe and our family knows that it is extremely important that he fully respect all conditions related to his parole. We understand that pepper spray is considered a weapon. In our specific situation, the pepper spray belonged to his girlfriend who had been raped. She felt that she requires the pepper spray as an additional means of protection. It was not his pepper spray.

During his parole period, Mr. John Doe has made significant progress. He found a job, began a career, started formal education, increased his self-confidence and self-worth, and contributed to society. This unfortunate event should not cause a detour in his progress. I strongly urge you to return Mr. John Doe to parole with whatever conditions you feel are necessary. He has the entire family's support and we will do whatever we can to help ensure that he stays within the guidelines of his parole and that he continue to positively develop his life.

Should you have any questions, please contact me at XXX-YYY-WWWW.

Yours truly,
Ima Guest

Enclosures:

1) proof of rape (letters, documents or whatever)
2) proof of job
3) proof of studies
4) whatever other documents you feel will help to support your position

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Notes:

1) Use some wordprocessing software and make this a title. Bold and underline. Don't go nuts with the fancy fonts, just make it look professional.

2) I am not sure if he is awaiting trial or what is happening next. You need to fill in the details.

3) Provide proof if possible. Doctor's note, police report, or whatever information you might have to corroborate this fact.

4) Supply proof of his job...if you can get a letter, even a quick letter from his employer stating he was an excellent employee, so much the better.

5) You really want to bolster this portion of the letter to show that he has behaved and made signficant progress. What I have written is just to get you started.

6) You need to think about how you will deal with the pepper spray going forward. Will she continue to carry pepper spray? If so, how you will address this issue with the courts?


I hope this helps get you started.

MountainHiker

There are plenty of examples here already and people have spent a lot of time helping on this thread, so I don't see why we need to keep repeating ourselves. If you need a character letter we are not going to write it for you. Please read through all the previous replies here and you should be able to write something.