Georgia cuts loose more people from probation after a fitful start
ATLANTA– For three years, Jamariel Hobbs was stuck in Georgia, unable to travel freely or move where he wanted. At first, a probation officer would show up at random times of the night to test him for drugs.
The soft-spoken Hobbs, now 29, was among Georgia’s nearly 176,000 residents on probation, the largest per capita population in the United States. Then he was lucky. Due to a new law, the court reduced the probation period from nine years to three.
He was free.
“Probation feels like a leash,” he said. “I have my future back.”
People are often placed on probation for low-level crimes such as drug possession or nonviolent theft. Georgia refuses end sentences as many other jurisdictions do.
The practice of long sentences persisted for years, despite research suggesting that people are less likely to reoffend after three years of probation. In short, a longer probation period can do little to improve public safety.
“You’re talking about people who have often experienced a lot of trauma and feel like they’re constantly walking around with a weight on their shoulders, a cloud over their head, where the smallest little thing can completely derail whatever work they’re doing. I put in,” said Wade Askew of the Georgia Justice Project.
People on probation also must pay fees to help offset the costs of supervising them, a particular burden for low-income people.
Under state law, many more people like Hobbs could have been free. In 2017, Georgia lawmakers passed a bipartisan bill aimed at reducing the number of people on probation by allowing some to be released early. According to a study by the Urban Institute, the measure could have translated into roughly a third of men and women on misdemeanor probation receiving sentences with the option to terminate their probation after up to three years, provided that they stayed out of trouble. .
Instead, only 213 sentences that included the possibility of early termination of probation ended ahead of schedule, according to Georgia’s Department of Community Supervision.
The legislator’s directive fell short for several reasons. Judges often failed to include potential early termination dates for probation when they should have, and they denied the Department of Community Supervision’s requests to end probation early.
In 2021, the legislature passed a second law outlining stricter guidelines to make the process more automatic.
To qualify for their freedom, people convicted of a crime for the first time must pay back any restitution they owe and avoid being arrested for anything more serious than a routine traffic violation. They must also have avoided having their probation revoked within the past two years. Judges or prosecutors can request a hearing if they oppose a case.
And people who are at least three years into their probation can apply for an early termination if they meet the criteria, even if they were originally sentenced to a longer prison term.
Observers – including judges and lawyers – say the new law appears more effective than the original.
According to the Department of Community Supervision, Georgia’s probationary population was down about 8% in January last year from 190,475 in 2021, mirroring national trends.
The ministry said it could not easily provide the number of people released from probation under the criteria set in 2021. What is known is that at least 26,523 sentences have ended early since the bill was passed, although many of those terminations could have been granted. for other reasons.
“It’s been a very successful, very big first step,” Askew said.
Some attorneys and advocates across the state say they continue to see eligible people on probation struggle to get probation officers to act. Others say they are encountering judges and prosecutors who are less friendly to the changes.
“If you want to get anything done, you really have to chase them down,” said Devin Rafus, an Atlanta attorney.
Jamariel Hobbs had a friendly judge.
The Emory University graduate’s life seemed to be on the right track after he earned his Japanese degree in 2019. He got a sales job selling auto parts in the South. Then the pandemic took its toll on Hobbs’ mental health. After intervening in a family dispute in 2020, he was charged with aggravated assault, according to Hobbs and the criminal complaint against him.
He spent months couchsurfing after his friends released him from prison. He lost his job and his company car. In December 2021, he was sentenced to one year in prison and nine years of probation, but he was able to avoid jail time by enrolling in Georgia’s Accountability Court Program for people with mental health and substance abuse issues. There he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed medication for it.
He now works for a biopharmaceutical company and recently started working as a peer outreach coordinator for people recovering from substance abuse or mental health issues.
Hobbs said his probation officers did not make it clear to him that his sentence included the possibility of early release from probation. So it felt surreal when he received a letter from Judge Layla Zon in December and was released from probation days later.
Now he hopes to move to North Carolina, where the cost of living is more affordable, and he dreams of starting an organization to help people with health and wellness.
“I’m here without probation,” Hobbs said, smiling slightly. “It’s a blessing.”
Judge Sun agreed.
“It’s really one of the better things I get to do as a judge, to reward that person for what they’ve accomplished and for doing what we asked them to do,” she said.
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Kramon is a staff member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.