Forum: The Other Side

Thread (Discussion): Re-Entry Task Force Report

The Problem:
Within the last few years, Florida DOC has adopted a “zero tolerance”
policy on technical violations of the conditions of supervision. Probation officers no longer have any discretion in deciding whether to violate an individual or not. Some sense that this policy shift was in reaction to certain high profile cases where an individual was not sent back to prison on a technical violation and then committed a
heinous crime. But what has troubled the Task Force are the instances in which there is an absence of any apparent nexus between the nature of the violation and any propensity to commit another crime, let alone a heinous crime. What is the policy rationale behind sending an otherwise compliant and gainfully employed ex-offender back to prison on a curfew violation? And in cases where the violation is for drug use, might not treatment be more conducive to rehabilitation than more time in prison? When the violation is related to the past offense, such as would be the case of a sexual predator loitering around a school yard, it is one thing. But when the offense is unrelated to both past crimes and any potential new crimes, the policy rationale is unclear.

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