K, I was reading the article on Yahoo about the kid in Florida taht killed his teacher. It said he would serve 28 years in jail and then serve 5 years probation. I thought that probation was when you have been given a jail time of 1 year or less, anything more and it is called parole. Was it just incorrectly used interchangeable or am I wrong?
Thanks,
My simple understanding is that parole is early release from a prison sentence, subject to terms and conditions that, if not adhered to can land the subject back in prison to finish their time. Probation is a sentence that, in lieu of incarceration, allows the subject to live subject to a set of terms and conditions that, if not adhered to can land the subject in prison.
I’m sure it gets more complicated, and we may get somebody with deeper knowledge to drop by.
Most often the word probation refers to supervision in lieu of prison, or served after a jail incarceration. Most often, parole refers to supervision post prision incarceration, and is a 'conditional release from a prison sentence"
2 possabilities here:
- reporter error (ie lots of people do use the terms interchangably).
- The sentence could be for a specific # of years of prison, followed by a specific number of years of supervision and the State of FL has chosen to refer to that as probation. (vs. parole which is a conditional release from prison ie, you haven’t necessarily done your entire sentence).
There was a push on at one point to ‘do away with parole’ (in many states, perhaps FL was one), but then they also figured out that ‘doing away w/parole’ meant the person wouldn’t be supervised post release (a very bad idea).
The latest system being introduced in the UK which was imported from the US looks, the three strikes rule but we also have just two strikes for violent offences, will see a massive expansion in the parole program.
The system also takes into account offences before the strikes rule was introduced, one drug dealer I know is on a life licence for his most recent offence because he had accumulated enough qualifying crimes before the legislation was enacted.
It means that if he is found in possession of drugs, or if he is found to be in breach of his parole terms in any way, like frequenting the houses of former criminal colleagues etc, he can be returned immediately to prison without trial.
There is a strong chance that he will revert to his old ways and his name will crop up somewhere in police intelligence, which again will be enough to reel him in.
Probation is used here most often along with community service orders where the offender, particularly the younger ones, are kept out of prison and put to work on state schemes such as maintaining schools grounds and the like.
Prison is used only when serious offences or large numbers of offences amounting to a criminal careers are involved.
In Washington State, we have two forms of post-prison supervision, neither of which is parole or probation. My research focuses on individuals leaving prison, so I don’t know much about sentences which involve supervision in the community in lieu of prison time.
Once one has been in prison in Washington, there are three ways to leave. One is, of course, finishing one’s sentence and leaving with no obligations. Then it gets a little more complicated.
We don’t really have variable sentences here, one is not sentenced to “5-7” years. Instead, one is sentenced to a certain number of years, either with or without post-prison requirements. Depending on the nature of the crime, an individual may receive for example a sentence of 15 years in prison AND 3 years of supervision to follow the prison term. This is called post-release supervision, and once in the community the individual must regularly report to a community corrections officer (similar to a parole officer; they may have other restrictions placed on them as well.
Then there is the issue of “good time” where a percentage of the prison term may be reduced for good behavior (the nature of the crime determines the percentage by which the term may be reduced). If an individual behaves reasonably well in prison, they may get out early on good time. For the remainder of their sentence, they are still technically in the custody of the prison system, and are under community supervision. They report to a community corrections officer as well. This can then transition to post-release supervision if that was a part of the original sentence.
I don’t know the details of Florida’s system, but I hope this helps clarify some of the confusion around sentence structuring.
In NY, probation can be imposed either in instead of incarceration ( for either a felony or a misdemeanor) or after a relatively short period of incarceration in a local jail. People can leave a prison and be supervised in three different ways:
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they can be paroled after 1/3 of an indeterminate sentence and be supervised for the remainder
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they can be conditionally released after a percentage of an indeterminate sentence ( either 2/3 or 85 % depending on the crime)and be supervised for the remainder
or they can be conditionally released after 85% of a determinate sentence which also includes a period of post release supervision and be supervised for the remainder of the sentence and the period of post release supervisionNo matter which of these ways a person leaves prison,they are supervised by parole officers and are commonly referred to as parolees.The major difference between parole and conditional release is that people who are paroled are released at the Parole Board’s discretion and the others are released by operation of law.
Wring mentioned reporter error, and I think that’s the most likely explanation. I know in NY, reporters often don’t distinguish between parole and conditional release. Just today, I saw a newspaper article about someone who committed a new crime within a couple of weeks of being conditionally released. The article mentioned that he had been denied parole a couple of times, leaving the impression that he was released without any form of supervision.And if I remember correctly, Florida is one of the states where parole and probation are handled by the same agency