Our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Leifert & Leifert are dedicated to assisting our clients throughout the various phases of their criminal cases, from initial hearings to the penalties issued during sentencing. Individuals who have been convicted of a crime often receive some type of supervisory probation sentence. A less-restrictive form of probation in the State of Florida is called “administrative probation.”
Terms of Administrative Probation
As our experienced Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense attorneys know, administrative probation is a form of “non-contact” supervision in which an offender who presents a low risk of harm to the community may, upon satisfactory completion of half the term of probation, be transferred by the Department of Corrections to non-reporting status until the expiration of the term of supervision. Unlike more restrictive programs such as community control, when placed on administrative probation, an individual goes unmonitored; that is, their behavior is not tracked, they are not drug tested, they do not necessarily need to seek permission to travel throughout the state, etc.
This does not mean that people placed on administrative probation have free reign and can disregard the basic rules of the probationary period; the Department of Corrections will indeed keep (albeit infrequent) tabs on the individual on administrative probation to ensure that they have not broken laws. Nevertheless, administrative probation is certainly a favorable alternative to other more-restrictive forms of probation.
Statute Information
Subsection 948.013(1) of the Florida State Statutes states that “the Department of Corrections may establish procedures for transferring an offender to administrative probation. The department may collect an initial processing fee of up to $50 for each probationer transferred to administrative probation. The offender is exempt from further payment for the cost of supervision as required in s. 948.09.” This subsection of the Florida State Statutes presents another benefit to administrative probation, in that the individual, after paying a $50 processing fee, does not need to continue to pay for the cost of supervision, as the individual would have been responsible for doing according to s. 948.09.
Subsection (2) of s. 948.013 stipulates who is not eligible for placement on administrative probation. According to the statute, you are ineligible for administrative probation if you are sentenced to or serving a term of probation or community control, regardless of the conviction or adjudication, for committing, or attempting, conspiring, or soliciting to commit, any of the felony offenses described in s. 787.01 or s. 787.02, such as kidnapping and/or false imprisonment, where the victim is a minor and the defendant is not the victim’s parent; s. 787.025, such as luring or enticing a child; chapter 794, such as sexual battery; s. 796.03, such as procuring individuals under 18 years of age for prostitution; s. 800.04, such as lewd/lascivious acts performed upon or in the presence of individuals under the age of 16 years old; s. 825.1025(2)(b) such acts performed upon an elderly individual; s. 827.071, such as sexual acts with children; s. 847.0133, such as providing obscene material to a minor; s. 847.0135, such as the electronic dissemination of private, contact information of minors; or s. 847.0145, such as the trafficking of minors.
As former prosecutors, our criminal defense lawyers are uniquely skilled in navigating the daunting waters of your criminal case. If you’ve been arrested for or charged with a crime in Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade County, contact us to see how we can help you.
