First of all, Texas does not call it “probation” anymore. These days it is “community supervision.” Whatever you call it, community supervision in Texas is the same as probation in most other states. It is a sentencing option judges have allowing them to sentence a criminal offender to a supervised sentence without sending the offender to jail or prison. An offender who is put on community supervision is subject to conditions that they must meet. Often, those conditions are numerous and are essentially a list of things the offender must do in order to remain in the community supervision program. Failing to satisfy those conditions can land you in serious hot water.
Violating Conditions of Community Supervision is Serious
The judge in your case has considerable discretion in setting the conditions of your community supervision. After all, the judge is the one who decides whether you will get community supervision in the first place, so it makes sense that the judge also would decide what exactly that supervision will entail. Essentially, under community supervision, the judge is forgoing a jail or prison sentence. However, that comes with conditions that you must follow or risk serving the jail or prison sentence you could have received to begin with. Common conditions of community supervision include:
- Obtaining and keeping a job
- Community service, i.e., unpaid volunteer work at an approved charitable organization
- Regular visits to a community supervision officer
- Restitution for the victims of your crime
- Travel restrictions
- Paying the costs of community supervision and court fees
- Not committing additional crimes
For drug or alcohol-related offenses, you also might be required to attend treatment classes or go into rehab. If you fail to comply with any of the conditions placed on your community service sentence, things could get ugly. A violation of community service conditions is a separate offense from that of the crime for which you were originally convicted. That means your punishment for violating conditions is separate from and in addition to the sentence you could have received to begin with instead of community supervision. For a serious violation of your community supervision conditions, you could find yourself serving that sentence. The possibilities include:
- A warning, but generally only for a minor violation of conditions, such as missing a meeting with your community supervision officer
- More terms added to your community supervision conditions
- If you fail to pay court costs or community supervision fees, your community supervision term could be extended
- A short jail sentence
- Revocation of your community supervision sentence and requiring you to serve the original jail or prison sentence you could have served had you not been given community supervision
The judge in your case has broad discretion with respect to the conditions imposed on your community supervision, and equally broad discretion with respect to the punishments for violations.
If You Have Violated the Terms of Your Community Supervision, You Should Talk to The Madrid Law Firm
If you are serving a community supervision sentence and have violated the conditions of that sentence in any way, you need legal assistance. Talk to the Madrid Law Firm. We can help you with your situation.
