Draft Bulletin on Probation Violations

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 hereafter 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cases have altered our understanding of certain aspects of probation violation hearings, like the effect of the now-repealed tolling law.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.

6 thoughts on “Draft Bulletin on Probation Violations”

  1. “A judge who sentences the offender to unsupervised probation may limit jurisdiction to alter or revoke the probation to himself or herself.53 There is no comparable provision for supervised probation.”

    This happens quite often with supervised probation. Since there is no comparable provision for supervised probation, are the judges who do this for supervised cases in error?

    If House Bill 217 becomes law, it appears that the proper court and venue for all violation hearings and modifications will be the district court.

    Reply
  2. Great stuff. Very easy to read and understand. One question I have is
    what is “after notice and hearing” A probation agrees to an ordinary
    extension or a Modification and signs the order does he have to go to
    court for a hearing. I had always got the defendant to sign then the
    DA and judge. If the defendant signs and agrees does that waive a
    hearing.

    Reply
  3. What’s the chances of someone who has four probation violations for abscoding to ask for drugg rehab instead of serving a full jail sentence for probation?

    Reply
  4. I LIKE YOUR CLARIFICATIONS ON PROBATION LAW AND TRYING TO SIMPLIFY IT THE BEST YOU CAN.
    QUESTION- OFFENDER WHOSE CASE IS TOLLED WHERE OFFENSE WAS BETWEEN 12/1/09 AND 12/1/11 AND THEY WOULD RECEIVE BACK CREDIT PROVISION IF PENDING CHARGE IS DISMISSED OR AQUITTED. SAY, OFFENDER IS IN THIS CATEGORY AND CASE EXPIRES 6/1 BUT CASE IS TOLLED AND SUPERVISION IS BEING CONT. DURING THIS TOLL PERIOD OFFENDER COMMITS TECHNICAL VIOLATION, THEN PENDING CASE THAT HAS TOLLED DEF CASE IS DISMISSED AND DEF EXPIRATION DATE MOVES BACK TO 6/1. DOES OFFICER STILL HAVE AUTHORITY OVER CASE, WERE VIOLATION REPORT WOULD BE TIME STAMPED OR VIOLATION OCCURRED AFTER EXP DATE?

    Reply
  5. What if I was on probation on an 18 month probation served it but they continued to extend over time and time for falure to pay or other reasons I past the 3 years mark where I should have been taken off but did not know about that till no then a while later I got locked up for 6 months on a charge from 2008 when the violation was 2013 what can I do at this point cause I don’t feel I was done write I mean 5 years later they revoke I understand when I got a new charge that was what I should have been on probation for not the old charges and in new charge it stated not to effect current probation so I feel I served time for something I already served with probation weekends and other things if u can tell me what I can do that would be great

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.