What discretionary conditions will I have to follow on federal probation?
For a discretionary condition to be lawful, the following must be true:
It must be “reasonably related” to the nature and circumstances of the offense, your personal history and characteristics, the need to protect the public from you committing future crimes, and the need to provide you educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment; AND
It cannot deprive you of liberty (meaning, your ability to live your life freely without excessive restrictions) any more than “reasonably necessary” to deter future crimes, protect the public, and for the purpose of providing you with training and treatment.[924]
A judge may order discretionary conditions on your federal probation—but only if it meets this two-part legal standard.
Furthermore, discretionary conditions of federal probation can be thought of in two categories—(1) “standard conditions,” which are imposed in almost every person’s case (see note directly below), and (2) other discretionary conditions that may be added to you in particular (see the next question).
AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT STANDARD CONDITIONS
The list of “Standard Conditions” below—while technically discretionary (not required)— will be added by the judge in almost every case of federal probation (the same is true for Supervised Release, see PG. 229). These “standard conditions” will be IN ADDITION TO the general conditions of federal probation discussed on PG. 223 above.[925] For a full list, please see PG. 317. If you are on federal probation that means you will likely have to follow all of these rules.