When is revocation of federal probation or supervised release mandatory?

For both Federal Probation and Supervised Release, revocation and additional time sentenced to prison are mandatory if the violation is one of the following:

    Possession of controlled substance (in violation of the condition set forth in section 18 U.S. C. 3563(a)(3));
    You possess a firearm[992] (in violation of Federal law or a condition of probation);
    You refuse to comply with drug testing;[993] or
    You test positive for illegal controlled substances more than 3 times over the course of 1 year.[994]

If one of the above situations occurs, then your probation officer or the prosecutor will have to file a violation notice, telling the judge that they think you have violated.[995]

  1. 992

    The definition for firearm in 18 U.S.C § 921. ↑

  2. 993

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(a)(4). ↑

  3. 994

    18 U.S.C. §§ 3565(b), 3583 (g) ↑

  4. 995

    See Federal Defenders of San Diego, Violations of Probation or Supervised Release, http://www.fdsdi.com/pdf/Client_Violations.pdf. ↑