Although you may not initially view it this way, you must consider your probation a privilege. This court-ordered sanction allows you, as someone who has been convicted of a criminal offense, to serve your sentence outside of jail or prison. That said, you must not take this opportunity for granted and step out of line with any of the imposed conditions. Please follow along to find out how you might commit a violation of your probation order and how one of the experienced New Jersey & Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyers at The Vigilante Law Firm, P.C., can help you avoid getting into any unnecessary and accidental trouble.
How might I commit a technical or substantive violation of my probation?
First things first, you should know there is a distinction between technical and substantive violations of probation orders. On the one hand, a technical violation occurs if you fail to meet specific probation conditions imposed by the New Jersey criminal court. These are generally considered minor infractions, such as if you miss a scheduled appointment with your probation officer, skip a court-ordered treatment program (i.e., therapy, anger management, drug or alcohol rehabilitation, etc.), fall short of your required community service hours, or do not stay current on your restitution or fine payments.
On the other hand, a substantive violation means you committed a new criminal offense while in the midst of serving a probationary sentence. Of course, this involves directly violating a state or federal criminal law, such as being arrested and going to trial for an alleged misdemeanor or felony, violating your no-contact order against the victim of your previous crime, testing positive for drugs when the court ordered a no-drug-use condition, etc.
What are the consequences of committing a probation violation?
With these things in mind, the consequences of committing a probation violation may deeply depend on its nature. That is, if you are caught committing a technical violation, you may be lucky enough to get off with just a warning or verbal reprimand. Or, taking it one step further, the New Jersey criminal court may postpone the date on which your probationary order is supposed to be lifted.
However, if you already have a criminal history or have committed a substantive violation, the court may have no choice but to believe you are not rehabilitating well. In response, they may place additional conditions on your standing probationary order. Or worse, they may send you to jail for a short while and have your probation resume afterwards. But the court may instead exercise its authority to revoke your original probation sentence and impose the penalty for your original offense.
It is worth reiterating that committing a substantive violation means you committed an additional criminal offense. Further, the court may also convict you of the new criminal charge, which comes with its own set of penalties (i.e., separate jail or prison sentence, additional fines and restitution, more community service hours, etc).
Before you step into a New Jersey criminal courtroom, you must seek one of the experienced New Jersey & Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyers to stand by your side. Please contact our office, The Vigilante Law Firm, P.C., as soon as you are ready.
