177 N. Church Ave
Suite 312
Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 468-6668
(602) 357-8606
(espanol)

1839 S. Alma School Road
Suite 264
Mesa, Arizona 85210
(480) 374-8747
(602) 357-8606
(espanol)

Difference Between Probation And Parole

Interviewer: What’s the difference between probation and parole?

Acacia Law: Well, probation is effectively what I described before in terms of the suspension of the imposition of the sentence of prison. Allowing the person to be placed on probation anywhere from one to ten years and sometimes in other cases for lifetime probation.

And what happens is that the difference is that with the probation terms, you only have a fixed amount of time to do your probation and then you are essentially done with the case.

Acacia Law: With respect to parole, parole is something that is not really related to probation, but is a term of community supervision that comes after a person has done prison time. It’s equal to one-seventh of their total time incarcerated. So, for example, if a person was in prison for seven months and then was released, if you calculate one seventh of their time you’re looking at 30 days.

That means that if they are released early and parole eligible, that they will be able to be released for that last 30 days, under community supervision. Which is very similar to probation and probation officers in that they also are keeping track of the person, making sure they are not getting into trouble, making sure they get a job, a place to stay and things of that nature. And also give them an opportunity to remain law abiding until community supervision is completed.

So one is not dependent on any sort of jail time or prison time being imposed and, in fact, it is in lieu of prison time that people are given the probation eligibility. Parole only deals with someone who has already done prison.

Interviewer: What are some of the things that a person can be required to do when they are on probation?

Acacia Law: It is almost the sky’s the limit. There’s two types of probation that are normally used in superior court for felonies. One is called standard probation where you pay a probation fee every month, you might have some community service, you are oftentimes gainfully employed. That is one.

The other has to do with what’s called IPS or intensive probation and that is more militant and strict and stringent in nature. And, basically, an individual who is granted IPS will tell you that it is the hardest type of probation to comply with. And, in fact, most clients that I have who filled out have their own acronym definition of IPS. They say that IPS means in prison soon because the drop out rate is very high.

Get your questions answered - call me for your free, 20 min phone consultation (480) 374-8747

Interviewer: So what’s involved in the general probation versus the IPS?

Acacia Law: Well, the main difference is strictness. In standard probation oftentimes you just have to contact your probation officer once a month, stay out of trouble. If they feel you need any counseling or Classes you do those. If they feel that you have any sort of possibility of either learning something from doing community service or learn something from maintaining a curfew, or maintaining or obtaining a GED or any sort of high school equivalent during the course of your probation, those are terms I’ve seen imposed.

Now don’t forget too that under these fact patterns, the person on probation may be paying what’s called restitution at the same time. So a court can hold a person, let’s say they are given three years of standard probation, if that person violates probation, then basically they are looking at a situation where their probation will be revoked and they will normally remain in custody until the court determines if they have, in fact, violated their probation.

On the other hand, with IPS, what you have is a system where they have surveillance officers that are literally on your back 24/7. They are checking in, they are making sure you comply with curfew, they don’t take any sort of error on your part, is anything but of the utmost seriousness.

They spend a great deal of time following the individual. I don’t mean sneaking like secret agents, but I mean going to where they are supposed to be working and verify that they are in fact there, going to their place of residence and in fact verifying that they are there and they’ll do this randomly or regularly depending on the circumstances and how many resources they have.

But, that is something that needs to be taken into consideration as well when assessing the value of a plea agreement. Obviously when someone’s convicted of these crimes, you are stuck with what the mandatory minimums are for that particular case. But IPS is something that judges put someone on, if they are skeptical if they are serious about probation or they are skeptical that, because they’ve failed standard probation before, that without it they will not succeed.

Other judges do it because they just figure that it looks good that they gave the person a chance, even though they are pretty sure the person wouldn’t prevail, at least they gave them the opportunity. So it’s a strange, strange system.

Interviewer: So what are some of the most common ways that people violate probation?

Acacia Law: Anything from failing to report in, to failing to maintain employment, to failing to notify their probation officer of moving addresses, to committing a new crime, whether it be a misdemeanor or a felony, etc. There’s a lot of different factors that can be deemed… any time you violate, whether it be for dirty [inaudible 48:40], which we talked about before or if they basically are not doing anything or being where they say they are going to be or chronically late. All those factors come into play and make a special sort of complexity that people, I don’t think on the outside really appreciate what’s going on all the time.

Interviewer: So when someone violates probation what there’ll be a warrant issued and they’ll be arrested? What will happen?

Acacia Law: Yeah there’s two ways they’ll go about it. The most common way is that the probation officer will call them down to their office, maybe for a regular meeting or a special meeting and when they get there there’ll be two sheriff’s deputies who will basically take them into custody on the spot.

And in order to do that, the probation department has to file what’s called a petition to revoke or a petition for the revocation of probation is another title that they use, but it all means the same thing. A person violates the probation they are now held without bond until there’s a resolution of the underlying failures to comply that were basically not taken seriously by the defendant or were never utilized by the defendant or the defendant was never compliant in. Do you see?

Get your questions answered - call me for your free, 20 min phone consultation (480) 374-8747