Felony Guide

Violation of Probation

Violating probation is a serious offense and there are many consequences that will follow a person who violates their probation. There are serious penalties involved which include but are not limited to jail or prison time, fines, counseling, not being able to have the record expunged later, rehabilitation, new convictions on a person's record as well as possibly having to complete the rest of their previous sentence.

What is probation?
Probation is what is issued after leaving county jail or at times when no jail time is required. A person who is paroled is someone that finished their sentence at a state prison.

There are many ways in which a person can violate their probation, below are some of the most common examples:

  • Failing to report a change of address or get approval to move from the probation officer
  • Failing to follow the terms of current probation
  • Committing another crime while still on probation
  • Failing to pass or submit a urinalysis
  • Failing to pass or submit a drug analysis
  • Failing to pay for restitution
  • Failing to report to the probation officer
  • Alter or break electronic monitoring devices
A probation officer can notify the court if he or she feels a person violated their probation and they can issue a warrant for the person's arrest. It is advised to report any violation of probation to the parole officer. Just because a person was not caught violating their probation does not mean that it cannot catch up to them.

It is very common for violations of probation not to be caught by the actual act but because of failing a polygraph test. In these situations the judge could have reviewed and charged the case differently if the person was not trying to hide the circumstance that caused them to be in violation and were upfront when it happened not after hiding it and failing a polygraph test.

Does a violation require new charges?
Just because they violated their probation does not constitute automatic charges. The judge will evaluate the circumstances and take all factors into account. The judge will determine if the person made every effort to meet the terms of their release.

For a violation to count against a person it must be willful. For example if a person loses their job and cannot pay the restitution that month then they will not be charged in violation. If a person is pregnant, goes into labor and ends up in the hospital and therefore is not at home during the required hours they will take that into account.

Make good faith effort
Making good faith efforts to following all of the terms of your probation is a must if you want your freedom. It is important to remember if you violate your probation it can cause serious penalties. Your freedom is at stake and if you violate your probation you may have to spend addition time in prison that otherwise you would not.

It is imperative to enlist the defense of an effective knowledgeable attorney to help defend your rights if you have been accused and are faced with charges because of violating your probation or parole. If your attorney can provide a compelling reason for why you violated your probation they may be able to have the charges reduced and jail time possibly dropped.

Over 10 years ago I was accused of and plead guilty to theft by conversion charges.
I am a contractor and had a couple of jobs that had gooten upside down. I did finish the jobs however the clients were afraid I would not get the remaining bills paid so they filed legal charges.
I hired an attorney who got it put off and put off. However, I never spoke to the attorney again about what was going on.

If I might mention here that I had NEVER been in trouble of any kind with the law until this incident. I had no idea how the judicial system worked. Had I known then what I know now I would have fired that attorney and got another one.

The attorney called one day and said I needed to be at his office that afternoon.

I went and he said that he had received a plea offer from th D.A. and it was the best deal I could hope for.

Basicaly, I was to plead guilty and take a 10 year sentence with time served and have 10 years probation plus restitution and 380 hrs. of community service.

I took this deal on the advice of my attorney. I never shoukld have taken this advice.

I was never told of or offered first offender status or told anything really.

Forward to now. On July 7,2010 I was arrested at a roadside check on a violation of probation warrant from 2002.

I was told at the jail that it was for failure to pay restitution and that I would have to speak to someone from the probation office.

I told them "Great, I had paid the restitution and folloed my requirements to the letter and could get this taken care of as soon as I spoke to someone from the probation office".

That never happened. I filled a request form out 2 times a day askinf to speak to a probation officer(The man who had been my P.O. back then is retired).

I was in jail until Friday afternoon July 9,2010 at approx. 5:30 p.m.

They came and got me that afternoon and said I was free to go. The warrant had been a mistake and it had been recalled and I owed no money on restitution.

No one ever came from the probation office to speak to me.

I asked how then was I getting out. The lady deputy sheriff told me that she had read my request forms when she came on duty that afternoon and had called the probation office and had been told to let me go.

The probation office Never even called when they found it was a mistake! If the deputy had not called I would have sat in jail at least over the weekend!

How can this happen? They should have a system in place to find out about warrants especially 8 year old ones, before they send them to the system.

How about the cost of getting my car back($150.00)?

I also need to know if I could exspunge this from my record in the state of Georgia?

I would appreciate any feed back you may have.

Like this comment? [yes] [no]   (Score: 0 yes, 0 no)
Permanent Link
Charles
Monday, July 19, 2010

on 2/3/10 my 20 year old son went to his parole officer office for his monthly meeting. On 2/3 he was arrested for a warrant from Broward County where this Judge place him on probabation.(Broward County is where the crime took place) I asked the Judge from Broward County to
give me permission to have my son move his probabtion to Dade County where I live. The Judge from Broward agreed. On Nov. 11, 2009 he was picked up by Dade County police for a person of interest, whereas, he was charged with weapon/w/a firearm. However, when he went to Court in (Dade County) The Case was thrownout. However my son was denied bond and stayed in jail 21 days. Now, again on 2/3/2010 he was arrested for a warrant that Broward County put out on him for I guess violating his probabation, even though he was not found gulity of a crime or even charged. I don't think this is fair.

Like this comment? [yes] [no]   (Score: 9 yes, 1 no)
Permanent Link
velma Brooks
Thursday, February 4, 2010