A new law allows you to apply for early termination of probation if you have served three years, and during that time, you have complied with the terms of your probation and paid all the required costs.
Everyone is broke; most people cannot afford a $400 emergency expense. Blame does not rest solely with the pandemic, low wages, or the high cost of healthcare and other necessities. Probation is part of the problem, because probation is expensive. When you are on probation, you must pay your own probation fees; you might also need to complete court-ordered counseling and drug testing at your own expense. The financial stress, combined with having probation officers constantly butting into your business and having to comply with arbitrary requirements set by a judge, makes probation downright demoralizing. A new law in Georgia makes it easier for defendants serving lengthy probation sentences to terminate their probation early. For help accomplishing this, contact an Atlanta criminal defense lawyer.
A Solution to Georgia’s Probation Problem?
Extended probation sentences are a drain on people’s financial and emotional resources in all 50 states, but Georgia feels the strain especially acutely. The number of people currently on probation in Georgia is three times the national average. The hardest part about probation is not all the fees you have to pay or all the meetings with probation officers, counseling sessions, and drug testing appointments that interfere with your work schedule; it is the feeling that, if you make even a small mistake, it could mean that your probation gets extended, or even that you go to prison. The court’s micromanaging is burdensome, too; if the judge says that you must live with your sister for the duration of your probation, you must do it, even if your parents’ house is closer to your work and you get along better with them than with your sister.
A Georgia law that went into effect this year makes it easier to terminate your probation early. You can apply for early termination of your probation if you have served three years of your probation sentence, during which time your probation has not been revoked, as long as you have paid all your court fees. The idea behind the new law is that, if you have consistently stayed on the right side of the law for three years, this is enough to convince the court that your law-abiding behavior will continue even when you are not under court supervision. The state has already begun accepting applications for early termination of probation and given the number of people currently serving long probation sentences, millions of people are eligible to apply today.
Contact Atlanta Criminal Defense Lawyers About Early Termination of Probation
The sooner you can get your probation terminated, the sooner you can apply for restriction and sealing of the associated criminal record, and a criminal defense lawyer can help. Contact the defense lawyers at Ghanayem & Rayasam in Atlanta, Georgia about your case.