Mike McCarthy

A new probation sentencing system that aims to clear out crowded dockets and lessen jail time could be up and running in local courts by the end of the year.

Work with a four-year pilot system in separate judicial circuits has led the Georgia General Assembly in April to pass a law implementing the program statewide.

Now, most of the state's 49 judicial circuits hold court hearings whenever someone is accused of violating probation. Serious violations can land an offender back in jail or prison, at the judge's discretion.

But many violations are relatively minor, such as failing to report to a probation officer or to pay fines. These hearings clutter court dockets and eat up time for everyone involved in probation cases, said Stan Cooper, director of probation operations for the Georgia Department of Corrections.

A 2007 study of Georgia's probation system by Applied Research Services Inc. found that 77 percent of a probation officer's time in court is spent waiting to appear before the judge.

The study showed that probationers in the pilot program called "options management" spent three to five times fewer days in jailhan under the current system, and that they received hearings in an average of eight days compared with 30 or more for probationers outside the pilot program but in the same judicial circuit.

Mr. Cooper said options management allows the department to apply swift, certain and proportionate sanctions for technical violations."

Probation operations is working to implement the system statewide by July, 2010. The Lookout and Conasauga judicial circuits are both scheduled to have options management in place by the end of 2009.

pros and cons

Under the new law, a Superior Court judge who assigns a convicted offender to probation also will decide on possible sanctions for violation, from additional supervision to sending an offender to a detention center.

If the probationer commits a technical violation, the hearing officer can decide what level of sanction to apply from the range the judge gave.

Some local public defenders have a problem with that.

"I think the potential for abuse is there," said David Dunn, public defender for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. "You do have a separation of powers issue. My biggest concern is whether they're delegating too much of what is essentially a judicial function to probation officers."

Mr. Cooper said similar concerns have been dismissed by judges. He said hearing officers receive the same judicial training as new judges and are selected from the ranks of senior probation officers.

For added protection, probationers accused of technical violations can waive the hearing, have an attorney and appeal the hearing to go before a judge.

Eighty-three percent of probationers waived their administrative hearing, according to the study.

District attorneys with the Lookout Mountain and Conasauga judicial circuits said the new options system would reduce the number of minor appearances that clutter overburdened attorneys' schedules. The system also contains checks to review hearing officers' decisions, they said.

Conasauga Public Defender Mike McCarthy agreed that the system could save time, but said the original hearing process was important for other reasons.

He said sanctions get more severe with each infraction. People who don't have proper representation early in the process could end up going back to prison unnecessarily, he said.

No protocols have been set for local circuits yet.

"I hope it stays that way," Mr. McCarthy said, "and it will if I have anything to say about it."