Probation FAQs

Yes. If you are found guilty of a violation of probation, you do have an appellate right. The standards which the Appellate Court will look at the evidence are extremely high in a violation of probation, because a lot of the evidence is considered to be looked at through the discretion of the court. Again, you do have a right to appeal it, but it’s an uphill battle.

Individuals who are on probation in Florida can move. The process can be done by notifying your probation officer of the need to move, and if they approve it and allow you to move, then you can do so. If they have any objection, an individual can go back to court to make that request for permission to move and have their probation altered in that fashion. If they’re moving out of the area, that too can be allowed, but generally is going to require a court order authorizing it so that the new probation system can be set up.

If an individual is sentenced to probation and completing community service hours, yes, that will show up on your record. It will show up on a record that you’ve been convicted of a crime, if that’s when it happened, and that a court imposed a probationary period with special conditions.

Again, the fact that you completed all the special conditions may not show up on that record, but just the fact that there was a charge, how it got resolved, and that you were given probation with special conditions such as completing community service hours, that will show up.

When you accept a resolution in Florida, the court gives you a period of time that you’re going to be on probation. In certain circumstances, if you complete all of the special conditions of your probation ahead of that time, you can go in front of the judge again and petition to court and ask that court to terminate your probation early. However, in certain circumstances, the state attorney’s office will make it a condition that you’re not allowed to apply for early termination of probation. Again, if you are allowed to apply for it and you complete all of the conditions of your probation with no new violations, you can request the court early termination of your probation.

Probation can be revoked in Florida. Generally speaking, it’s going to be revoked if an individual who was placed on probation has not complied with all the requirements. In Florida, if you violate probation, and have been determined by the court to be guilty of that violation of probation, the period or remaining period of probation can be revoked, because the court has the intention and sometimes will sentence the individual to an incarcerative sentence, either in jail or in prison.

In Florida, individuals who have been placed on probation, who comply with all conditions, can petition the court for early termination. Now, if part of the plea bargain that was accepted allows you to do so then in those cases individuals can go before the court, advise the court that they have completed all the conditions of probation, that there’s been no new violations, and request the court to let them off of the probation early. If the court grants it, then that probation is terminated and that person is no longer under the sanction of the Department of Corrections and the probation officer.

Probation is a period of time that the court puts an individual on to have personnel of probation supervise that individual. There are general conditions of probation which include to not commit any new crimes, which include to report to probation when you are told to do so, which require the individual to remain living at the same place and working at the same location.

There can also be special conditions of probation. In drug cases it may be drug education. In a crime where a victim is involved it may be the payment of restitution but those can be added as special conditions of probation so probation is that time period where an individual has to comply with the courts special orders to accomplish certain things as a form of punishment.

Probation will generally require an individual to comply with certain conditions. They include that the individual has to stay at their residence that they’re located in if they want to move to notify law enforcement first, to stay employed at the same place and if they lose their job or change jobs, to let their probation officer know first. Additionally, an individual on probation as a general condition cannot go out and commit new crimes. There also can be other conditions that are added to the general, which would be special conditions. Generally speaking, everybody on probation has to report on normal basis, stay out of trouble, stay living where they live, and stay working where they work in order to comply with the conditions or probation.

If you’re placed on probation, that is a level of supervision that the Department of Corrections, again, is supervising you, and, generally, a person is placed on probation when they do not go to jail or prison: instead they’re placed on a period of probation, to be monitored, to be watched and to complete a list of different conditions that a court may impose.

A person who is on parole is an individual coming out of prison that, again, is at the end of their sentence, and the court system is setting a lightening of the security, or a lightening of the supervision of that individual; and it’s going to let them out of prison, and, instead, is going to let them be reporting through a parole officer and following those rules.

When you accept a resolution in Florida, the court gives you a period of time that you’re going to be on probation. In certain circumstances, if you complete all of the special conditions of your probation ahead of that time, you can go in front of the judge again and petition to court and ask that court to terminate your probation early. However, in certain circumstances, the state attorney’s office will make it a condition that you’re not allowed to apply for early termination of probation. Again, if you are allowed to apply for it and you complete all of the conditions of your probation with no new violations, you can request the court early termination of your probation.