Articles Posted in Probation Violations

What does it mean when someone is put on probation? Many times you’ll hear a defendant is put on probation after either a guilty plea or as part of a sentence following a guilty verdict. First of all, probation is a conditional sentence. When someone is judged to be guilty as a result of a plea or guilty verdict the judge can sentence the defendant to the maximum penalty under the law. If that happens there isn’t any more punishment to be had and there isn’t any probation. But, a conditional sentence means that the judge is giving a sentence less than the maximum and in consideration of that the defendant is told he is on probation to the court, usually on certain conditions.

The conditions of probation can be whatever the judge orders someone to do as a result of the conviction. For example, the judge can order the defendant to serve 30 days of community service as a condition of probation. If the defendant doesn’t do the community service the judge can find a violation of probation and impose some or all of the rest of the maximum sentence. It works something like reward and punishment. If you do what you are ordered to do the reward is no more jail time or fines or whatever else the judge might do if you don’t follow through. Punishment comes into play when the defendant fails to live up to his promise to the judge that he would abide by the conditions of his probation. That punishment can be up to whatever the maximum is for whatever crime the defendant was convicted of when he plead or was found guilty.

When a defendant is sentenced to probation, either formal (with a probation officer ) or informal (without) the defendant is asked: “Do you accept the conditions of probation as I have stated them?” If the defendant says yes, he has a contract with the court to accomplish whatever it is the judge has set out for him to do.