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Zero-tolerance probation policy hits some snags

The new policy has put probation officers back on the streets but put a bigger burden on judges and jails

By CANDACE RONDEAUX
Published December 8, 2005

TAMPA - After Joseph Smith raped and killed 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota last year, state officials vowed to make sure that probation violators like him would not get a second chance.

But more than a year after the state launched a crackdown that pulled probation officers out of courtrooms and put them back on the streets, some worry about the policy's wider effects.

"Probation and parole has removed their input in the courtroom, and it's leaving a vacuum that's made it difficult for the court to make an informed decision," said Hillsborough Circuit Judge Robert Foster Jr.

On any given day, Hillsborough judges review hundreds of probation violation cases out of thousands that wind up on their dockets each week. Probation officers who used to be stationed in court to answer questions are now out enforcing a zero-tolerance policy. The policy limits officers' discretion, requiring them to report violators to a judge immediately upon discovering them.

Judges now find themselves missing the officers and the court files. No one is on hand to answer questions about offenders who might sit in jail for days after they've been arrested on minor charges, or even incorrect charges, said Hillsborough Circuit Chief Judge Manuel Menendez Jr.

"We end up dealing with a fellow or a woman who's on probation without knowing what their situation is," he said. "Maybe the person is on probation, and they screwed up just a little bit, but not so much that they need to be in jail. We would like to know that."

Two years ago, probation officers, on average, sent about 680 probation violation reports to Hillsborough judges for review each month. After the zero-tolerance policy was introduced, that figure jumped by 14 percent this year.

The probation crackdown has meant a bigger burden for the county's jails, where the daily population of 4,690 is about 20 percent bigger than the jails are designed to handle, said Hillsborough sheriff's Col. David Parrish.

"It's increased the problem because you have a lot of people coming in on a violation of probation, and then they actually spend longer than most of the people who are booked in jail," Parrish said. "They come into jail. They sit here for a while, and once they get in here nobody's been notified. These people spend more time in jail than a typical case, and that's backwards."

When probation officers were stationed in court, judges gained quick access to an offender's record and could find out whether he or she had complied with the rules of probation. Now judges must rely on paperwork sent by the clerk of court's office. But this can slow the process because offenders' files frequently contain incomplete information or often do not arrive in time for a probation hearing, some judges complain.

John Edwards, the regional director of probation and parole, acknowledges that the zero-tolerance policy has complicated matters for the courts and jails. But, he said, safer streets are a major benefit.

"It's hard to measure crimes that don't occur because of the fact that we're able to take these guys off the street before they commit another crime," Edwards said.

This fiscal year, the Corrections Department has budgeted about $221-million to supervise the roughly 144,000 people on probation around the state. There are 2,760 probation officers in the state, 195 of them in Hillsborough. Prison officials say the zero-tolerance policy is helping those officers do a better job. It allows them to focus on offenders who, like Smith, could wind up being a bigger danger to society.

"It works well for them because they were constantly having to drive to the courthouse to appear. This way, they can have more time on the street," said state corrections spokesman Robby Cunningham.

To fix some of the glitches in the probation process, Menendez is looking toward the creation of a new court early next year. The judge in the new division would focus strictly on offenders with technical violations, such as late court restitution payments or missed appointments with a probation officer. The goal is to untangle the knot of probation paperwork and keep offenders from clogging the jails, Menendez said.

Although probation offenders are supposed to go before a judge within a week to 10 days of their arrests, that's not always how it works, Parrish said. While the average person booked at a Hillsborough jail spends roughly 25 days behind bars, it averages two weeks longer for people on technical violations of probation to be released, according to county jail data.

Zero tolerance has increased costs to the county as well. In 2003, the county's jails spent nearly $8.4-million on inmates brought in on technical violations of probation. So far this year, technical probation violators cost the jails roughly $10.2-million through October, about an 18 percent increase since zero-tolerance was put into place.

Carl Wicklund, executive director of the American Probation and Parole Officer Association, wonders if the policy's price is too high. Offenders arrested for minor technicalities have a harder time working their way back into the mainstream, and some may return to a life of crime, he said.

"If we take the tail-them, nail-them and jail-them approach, it's going to just be a revolving door," Wicklund said. "Think of what it does to the families of offenders if they're getting pulled off the street all the time and how destructive that is to the family's financial well-being."

Hillsborough Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta wonders the same thing. Like many other felony judges, Ficarrotta regularly sees hundreds of probation violators in his court. He supports the Corrections Department's tougher line, but he has reservations about its efficiency.

"With this zero-tolerance program that the DOC has begun looking at any violation, they're reporting it to the courts, which is fine," Ficarrotta said. "But I think we can lose sight that we're all human beings. All of us make mistakes."

Times researchers Cathy Wos and Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Candace Rondeaux can be reached at 813 226-3337 or rondeaux@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 8, 2005, 00:49:13]