I recently completed a draft of a bulletin on probation violations. It is working its way through our internal review process. In the meantime, I thought I would post it on the blog and open it up for wider comment. There have been many changes in this area of the law in the past 5 years—from the reforms enacted in 2009 (described here) after Eve Carson and Abhijit Mahato were killed to Justice Reinvestment. In addition to those legislative changes, many appellate cases have altered our understanding of certain aspects of probation violation hearings, like the effect of the now-repealed tolling law. Those issues and many others are discussed in the bulletin. I welcome all feedback on its content and scope—especially any common situations or frequently asked questions that it doesn’t address.
The draft is available here. I hope you’ll take a look.
A related resource on probation violations that may be of interest is my one-page summary of the various actions that can be taken in a probation case, from termination to revocation. It is available here.
