If you are on probation for a criminal conviction, any violation of the probationary terms are supposed to lead to some sort of sanction. However, because this would cause unending paperwork and because minor violations may not warrant a serious sanction, it doesn’t always happen this way. According to the Oregonian, Governor Kulongoski wants more aggressive followup on minor probation violations, and hopes to use some $13.5 million of stimulus money to make this happen.
Measure 57 passed last November toughening up sentences for repeat non-violent offenders. While this was done in the interest of preventing recidivism, budget shortfalls make it nearly impossible to have prison beds for all of the additional state inmates this would create.
As another option, Kulongoski wants to create a sort of last chance probation for these offenders. This probation would be more intense than others in that each violation would go directly before a judge. In other probation cases, the probation officer uses their good judgment and a probationer often doesn’t get taken in front of a judge at all. [Read more…]