Probation warrants now invalid after one year.

[NoWingedAngel]

Judges across Georgia are cancelling tens of thousands of arrest warrants tied to misdemeanor probation cases, the result of a new Supreme Court decision that has upended the way courts handle low-level offenders accused of skipping out on probation requirements.

The Supreme Court stunned Georgia judges and probation companies last week with its ruling, which found that state law doesn’t authorize putting misdemeanor probation sentences on hold if a probationer stops reporting as required. Issuing arrest warrants and stopping the clock on probation sentences has been a standard practice for years in the courts that handle traffic offenses, DUIs and other misdemeanor charges.

The decision means thousands of people accused of disappearing before they completed probation requirements will no longer face an arrest over those failures. Some are being released from jail.

Source

Well, if you can lay low for a year, then you've got it made. This is especially problematic for out of state violators. This pretty much means any out of state driver needs to be taken to jail to make a cash bond. Of course, I'm sure the sheriffs will love it when a horde of traffic violators are taking up bed space in their facilities.

Honestly, I may just stop writing tickets. Between Ferguson and this, I'm about to the point of not even bothering.

[dontknowwhy]

Wow. This is going to a big hit to my department. We are small but work a lot of traffic due to the state highway we have. I get a ton of DUI's (110 this year, which is a lot for a 12 man department for a city of 3000 residents) and most of those go on probation. We have probably 5000 active warrants, the majority of which are probation violations. It's not so much the money from the fines that will bother us (to be frank, we have a solid tax base and don't need the ticket money) but when word gets out that people can skip out on their fines if they lay low for a year will result in an increase in crime, IMO. I also disagree with having private companies run probation, but that's a different story.

[NoWingedAngel]

Wow. This is going to a big hit to my department. We are small but work a lot of traffic due to the state highway we have. I get a ton of DUI's (110 this year, which is a lot for a 12 man department for a city of 3000 residents) and most of those go on probation. We have probably 5000 active warrants, the majority of which are probation violations. It's not so much the money from the fines that will bother us (to be frank, we have a solid tax base and don't need the ticket money) but when word gets out that people can skip out on their fines if they lay low for a year will result in an increase in crime, IMO. I also disagree with having private companies run probation, but that's a different story.

So do I. I worked for a for-profit prison when I was 19 and it was the worst 3 months of my life. Over half of the supervisors that I had while I was there ended up going to prison for smuggling contraband. There are some things that the private sector can do better and there are some things that shouldn't be for-profit, ever. Probation is one of those things. It essentially makes us de facto employees of the probation company because we're generating revenue for them.

As an aside, grats on the DUI numbers. I'm from a 20+ officer department and we might have 20-30 a year. People hate doing DUIs at my department.