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Probation Violations
Probation is a court-ordered term of community supervision under specified conditions for a specific period of time that cannot exceed the maximum sentence for the offense. The effectiveness of Florida community supervision programs, designed to enforce the conditions set forth by the courts, is measured by the number of offenders who violate their conditions of probation, either by committing another crime or by failing to adhere to their probation's technical requirements. An average of 30.9 percent of all violations committed by offenders on probation during the last three years was committed by those offenders who had prior violent crimes. These offenders violated the terms of their probation, either through committing another crime or through violating the technical terms of their supervision, for example, by failing a drug test.
Why Is This Important?
Successful completion of an offender's term of supervision is an important component of public safety, but enforcing the conditions of supervision set forth by the court is the primary duty of the probation officer. Consistently reporting willful violations of supervision to the court may result in the court taking some action (such as revoking the offender's supervision and sending them to prison). Therefore, the goal for these measures of probation violations is consistency in the violation process. Expecting consistency in the ultimate outcome of those reported violations falls to the court system, which must judge each case individually.
Community supervision in Florida can be split into those who are on some form of supervision like probation only (original sentence) and those who are serving a term of supervision after having served prison time (post-release supervision). A total of 2,317 Correctional Probation Officers are responsible for the supervision of over 154,000 offenders under community supervision. Comprehensive community supervision often includes counseling, job placement, victim restitution, drug testing, electronic monitoring, and other specialized supervision approaches.
There are several categories of community supervision in Florida including Probation, Drug Offender Probation, Sex Offender Probation, Community Control (including electronic monitoring), and pretrial intervention. Types of post-prison supervision include parole, conditional release, and other forms of supervision.
The Department of Corrections is charged with supervision of offenders and reporting violations of probation to the court for action. An effective system of supervision is one in which offenders are treated fairly and consistently while providing the best chance of successful completion of their sentence.
How Is Florida Doing?
The number of reported probation violations committed by felons with prior violent crimes has decreased each of the last four years. Since Governor Charlie Crist signed the Anti-Murder Act into law in 2007, the number of these violators has decreased by nearly 10,000 or 22 percent. The legislation requires those on probation who were previously convicted of violent offenses be immediately returned to prison if they violate their probation, unless a judge rules otherwise.
Overall probation violators are also down by more than 25,000, or 18 percent, over the past three years. The percentage of probation violators returned to prison within two years fell by less than one percent in the most recent statistics (fiscal year 2006-07), but this represents the first decrease over the previous six years.
Scorecard
What Influences Probation Violations?
Violations of supervision are initiated by the officer who deals with the offender on a regular basis. The Department of Corrections has a risk system that categorizes offenders by their likelihood to violate probation for new arrest, a technical violation, or abscond (run from or leave the area). This risk system determines how often an offender is contacted by their probation officer. The consistency with which violations are administered by officers is a function of training, knowledge of department policy, and experience. The state strives for consistent and thorough investigations of potential violations.
What Is the State's Role?
The state is charged with protecting public safety and ensuring the safety of corrections personnel. This mission is enhanced by providing proper care and supervision of all offenders under the state's jurisdiction while assisting, as appropriate, their reentry into society.
The focus on assisting with re-entry into society is a major change to the Florida Department of Corrections' mission. This change has brought a more coordinated and focused effort on offender rehabilitation programs and re-entry efforts.
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