Technical Violations

Probation can be revoked at the discretion of a probation officer. He/she has the authority to choose to give a warning or revoke probation for violations. A warning is sufficient for some probation violations. However, every probation officer handles violations differently. One may decide to revoke a probationer’s probation for a violation. Whereas, another may decide to give the probationer a warning for the same violation. Maintaining employment is one of the conditions, or rules, of probation. Resigning or being terminated from a job is considered a technical violation. A technical violation is the “failure to abide by technical rules” (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p. 445). A probationer must follow all the rules of probation to meet all the conditions

I would request him/her to actively seek employment. I would require the probationer to provide signed documentation proving he/she is, in fact, vigorously seeking employment. The probationer must provide at least 5 documents a week, or at least 15 a month depending on how frequently he/she sees me, for my review. I would give the probationer sixty days to obtain employment before I give him/her a warning. If the probationer has not obtained employment after the sixty-day warning, I will revoke his/her probation. Many individuals believe probation has a substantial amount of benefits. These benefits include its cost effectiveness, its assistance in reducing crime and imprisonment, and its tendency to be more rehabilitative than jail or prison (Phelps, 2013). According to these individuals, such as myself, probation should be used more often as a form of punishment (Phelps, 2013). However, other individuals will argue that community corrections contribute to the issue of mass incarceration (Phelps, 2013). Either way, probation officers have an extremely important job within