If you are on parole and your parole officer determines that you have violated the terms of your parole, the court may send you back to prison to serve the rest of your original sentence. And when you have been arrested on a parole-based warrant, you can be held in jail without bail until your parole hearing.
It is important to understand the potentially serious consequences of parole violations. Parole is a conditional release from prison. Technically, you continue to serve your sentence while on parole. Parolees are under supervision. Your parole officer and the parole board have wide discretion over your freedom. You could be sent back to prison for even a minor parole violation.
If you are facing a parole violation, the best course is to contact an experienced criminal defense attorney who has experience with parole violation hearings and can defend your rights and freedom.
What Are Parole Violations in New Jersey?
When an individual is paroled, he or she serves part of their criminal sentence under the supervision of a parole officer. Parole is meant to help many parolees get re-established in the community and avoid many factors and situations that could get them sent back to prison.
In New Jersey, the sentences for some major crimes do not allow the possibility of parole. But most defendants sentenced to prison in New Jersey criminal cases become eligible for parole after serving one-third of their original sentence. When a prisoner is paroled, a parole board sets the conditions for early release that are specific to the parolee’s circumstances and the nature of the criminal case.
Some of the general conditions of parole in New Jersey are:
- Obey all laws and ordinances.
- Report directly to your parole officer as instructed.
- Notify your parole officer no later than the next business day after any arrest, receipt of summons or complaint, receipt of a restraining order, or being released on bail.
- Obey the terms of any protective or restraining order against you.
- Refrain from acts that may result in a protective or restraining order against you.
- Live at a residence approved by your parole officer.
- Obtain permission from your parole officer before changing residence.
- Notify your parole officer by the next business day of any change in employment status.
- Obtain permission from your parole officer before leaving the state.
- Refrain from owning or possessing any firearm or other designated weapons.
- Submit to random drug testing or alcohol testing at any time as directed by your parole officer.
- Submit to searches conducted by your parole officer, without a search warrant, of your person, place of residence, vehicle, or other real or personal property.
Your parole may also contain conditions directed specifically at you and your crime or other circumstances, such as:
- Be at your residence during specified hours of the night or day.
- Stay away from certain people or groups of people and from certain places.
- Refrain from using, possessing, or distributing drugs.
- Attend alcohol or drug counseling.
- Attend anger management counseling
- Refrain from contact of any kind with minors.
- Refrain from living within a certain distance of a school or park.
- Refrain from owning or possessing devices with internet capability.
- Refrain from using social media.
Your parole officer has the authority to declare that your failure to comply with parole conditions constitutes a parole violation and to ask the parole board to revoke your parole. Some of the most common parole violations include:
- Being arrested,
- Breaking curfew,
- Failing a drug test,
- Failing to report to your parole officer,
- Traveling without permission,
- Contact with people whom you were ordered to avoid,
- Failing to find or maintain employment.
How Is Parole Revoked in New Jersey?
In most cases, your parole supervisor will try to work with you and get you to shape up if you commit minor parole violations. If there are frequent or major parole violations, the officer can initiate the parole violation process. Fortunately, your parole officer does not have the final say as to whether your parole is revoked.
Once a parole officer files a complaint against an individual for violating parole conditions, the parole board must determine whether there is evidence that you have violated conditions of parole and whether you should be detained for a revocation hearing. A revocation hearing follows most probable cause hearings. You can waive the probable cause hearing and proceed directly with the revocation hearing. If you have been charged with violating the terms of your parole, you need the help of a knowledgeable N.J. parole violation attorney.
At a parole revocation hearing, you have the opportunity to contest the alleged violation(s) and present evidence on your own behalf. If you admit to the alleged violation, you can still offer any mitigating evidence or explanation that you want the hearing officer to consider. You have the right to have a criminal defense lawyer represent you at this hearing and to present your argument that you deserve to remain on parole instead of being returned to prison.
After the hearing, the hearing officer will submit a written report to a panel of parole board members. A copy will be sent to your attorney or directly to you if an attorney did not represent you. You must send any objections or additions to the report within seven days. Your parole status will be decided within 21 days of your revocation hearing.
After considering the evidence presented at the hearing, the parole panel will decide whether to revoke your parole or allow you to remain on parole under the current conditions. It might modify the conditions of parole. For example, if curfew violations are a problem, it might establish a later curfew that is more compatible with your current work schedule.
If your parole is revoked, you will go back to prison to serve the rest of your sentence. You will still have the same rights to file an appeal. Appeals must be sent in writing to the board within 90 days of your receipt of written notice of the hearing panel’s decision.
What Happens If You Face A New Criminal Charge While On Parole?
If you are charged with a crime, you should notify your parole officer and contact a New Jersey parole violation attorney. Your parole officer will not automatically seek to revoke your parole because you have been charged with a new offense. But the officer may do so if this comes on top of repeated minor violations or your arrest was for certain crimes.
In most cases, unless a request is received to start the revocation hearing process, the parole board cannot revoke your parole before the resolution of the criminal charges in court. But if you are alleged to have violated parole restrictions on the possession of firearms or other weapons or the use, possession or distribution of drugs, no request is necessary to convene a parole revocation hearing.
If your parole officer or the local prosecutor requests revocation of parole on the basis of your new charges, you will be arrested and taken before a probable cause hearing. If probable cause is found, you will have a revocation hearing. At the revocation hearing, there must be clear and convincing evidence that you committed a crime before your parole can be revoked. This is a less rigorous standard to meet than proving evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.
If you are convicted of a crime committed while on New Jersey parole, there is a presumption that you have committed a parole violation. You must show that there is good cause as to why your parole should not be revoked.
Don’t Face NJ Parole Charges Alone. Get Legal Help Now.
Your freedom is on the line if you face parole violation charges and a parole revocation hearing. An experienced New Jersey parole violation lawyer can help you avoid a return to prison and a years-long wait to become eligible for release on parole again.
Don’t face a parole revocation hearing on your own and risk going back to state prison for the remainder of your prison sentence. Contact the experienced attorneys at Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall now for a free initial legal consultation. Phone (856) 565-3635.
