I've been on probation for a year now. I have 4 more to go. I've gotten a ticket for drinking in public and luckily I didn't have to go to court for it and I sent the ticket fine through the mail and to my knowledge my PO never found out. I got a second ticket for the same thing except this time I have a court date to show up to. Can I get violated for a ticket or just for having to show up to court?

Hello mernz:

One of the requirements of your probation is to obey all laws. You didn't. Therefore, you can be violated.

excon

And you even did the worst violation of all, you did not notify the PO of the violation ( getting the ticket) the first call that next day should have been to them. And you should have appeared and tried to get the ticket dismissed with some public service ( thus no record)
The PO will as standard procedure sometimes before you get off probation, run a background check again, when these show up, guess who may really get vioated and most likely just for not telling them, not really the tickets.

I was a PO in MD for 7 years. In that state conviction for a jailable offense violates probation, if you can pay a fine it doesn't count. If you get charged but not convicted, you are OK.

I really like the terms that you use in your answer, such as "jailable offense." Using those sort of terms can be a great help to others here!

In most states, I would think that would be the case, that unless it is a jailable offense, other then say a mere traffic violation like speeding or the like, then it most likely would not be a violation of probation.

It is my understanding that most probation officers as well as probation offices are looking for the more severe offenses occurring while a person is on probation, and not the kind that most people will get from time to time such as minor traffic violations. Although, a violation of any law, no matter how minor, should be reported to a probation officer, since part of what is involved in being on probation is not to break any laws, like excon has already stated above.

So, in also echoing Fr_Chuck here, it sounds like you have a jailable offense and probably will be in violation of your probation.

I'm not sure what JimGunther means by "if you can pay a fine it doesn't count" according to the laws in the state where he was a probation officer. So, I would appreciate an explanation of that.

I'm no expert in this topic area by any means, but am just curious.

Thanks!

I agree with Jim Gunther BUT too you have to consider was the fine related to what you are on probation for. Like if your ticket is traffic related and your 'crime' included traffic violations then it WOULD be a violation.
I believe my state does the jailable vs paid fine for a summary offense.

BUT you still need to tell your PO NO matter what.

What I was saying was that if you can go to jail for an offense, and you get convicted for it, it will be a violation of probation. If you can pay a fine and the max sentence doesn't include jail, such as in a minor traffic ticket, then it does not violate probation. It should be obvious that "jailable offense" means an offense that you can go to jail for. It is not my term, but is how the statute is worded in MD. Of course this may not be the rule in every state.