Community Supervision Defined
Community Supervision Defined
Community Supervision, regularly referred to as Probation, is a sanction, an organization, and a process. As a sanction, it is the most widely used punishment available to courts in disposing of criminal cases. As an organization, it is the infrastructure through which and by which the process of community corrections is administered/implemented. As a process, it involves the utilization of the “continuum of sanctions” which is created for purposes of reducing the probability that those offenders who cannot and/or will not comply with the sanctions imposed by the court will not reoffend.
In Texas, as in all other states, community supervision (probation) is a privilege and not a right. An offender is not entitled to community supervision (except where specifically required by statute); thus, it may be denied without possible recourse, and such denial is not appealable. Once given, however, community supervision becomes an entitlement (meaning an offender cannot be revoked without affording him/her certain due process rights).