Madina Hassan
Assignment: 3
Professor: Janice Bella
September 10, 2014
Probation and Punishment
Probation is a sanction that a court orders to allow an individual who commits a crime to stay in the community without serving his jail term. However, an individual is not totally free during probation as he remains under the supervision of a probation officer (Prince William County, 2014). There are restrictions that the probationer must observe, and it is the duty of the probation officer to supervise the probationer so that he adheres to the restrictions. There are intricacies of probation, and if the probationer violates the restrictions, the probation officer reports him to the court for the appropriate action. Some of the restrictions that the probationer observes include restriction from handling weapons, abusing drugs or alcohol, and reporting to the probation officer, among other rules. If the probationer fails to adhere to the restrictions, it is the duty of the probation officer to report to the judge. The judge punishes the probationer by putting sanctions such as a jail-term, community service, restitution, and fines on the probationer (Prince William County, 2014).
The probationer should avoid violating the conditions of probation because it has its intricacies. Probationers should understand that the court has the powers to sanction them if they violate their probations. Matthew (2014) explains that the worst sanction that the court can put on the probationer is to revoke the probation. The judge can revoke the probation if an individual commits a new crime or fails to observe the other conditions of the probation grant (Matthew, 2014). When the judge revokes the probation, the criminal faces the charges. The court may find him guilty of the charges and sentence him to a jail-term. The probation department takes several steps to revoke the probation. First, the department determines that the probationer has violated his