What Is A Technical Violation Of Probation?

Technical violations are when you are accused of violating some of the specific technical terms and conditions of your probation like failing to seek permission before changing your residence or failing to obtain permission before leaving the county. This is in contrast to a substantive violation such as committing a new offense. When you get your probation conditions you should go over with your attorney before you sign up for probation, and make sure that you don’t just put them in your pocket or file them away in a file, but that you read through them and you understand them; the first rule of probation is that you commit no new offenses against the laws of the state of Texas or any other state of the United States.

Committing a new offense is considered a substantive violation. Usually a few minor technical violations aren’t going to get you revoked and send you to prison. One failure to report to your probation office, one missed drug test, moving your job without getting permission or notifying your probation officer, usually those kind of small minor technical violations are not going to get you sent to prison. When I say this, let me be clear that missing a probation meeting more than once will likely be considered absconding, commonly known as “being on the run” which most judges would consider a substantive violation. It’s easy to show up to your probation meetings but it’s even easier to get your probation revoked by failing to show up. Sometimes when people are on probation, they will get arrested for a new offense like driving while intoxicated or driving with license suspended or assault with family violence, and because of the new offense they are scared to report to the probation officer and they stop reporting to the probation department.

It’s often the case that we are able to beat the new offense. If you’ve taken the subsequent DWI offense to trial and are found not guilty by a jury, or the allegations on assault with family violence are found to be not true, or the complainant recants the allegations are we are able to get the new charges dismissed, but if you continue to fail to report to your probation for a longer period of time, the technical violations may rack up to a point where the judge is going to end up revoking your probation and sentencing you to prison or to a jail sentence because of your accrued technical violations. If you have any questions about whether or not you should report to your probation officer or how severe the consequence you are facing due to your technical violations, you should consult with an experienced attorney for advice on the matter.

For more information on Technical Violations Of Probation In Texas, A Free Case Evaluation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (512) 478-9898 today.