Federal Probation/Supervised Release: Discretionary Conditions

WHAT ADDITIONAL DISCRETIONARY CONDITIONS MAY I HAVE TO FOLLOW ON SUPERVISED RELEASE?

If the legal standards are met (refer to PG. 225), the judge may order additional discretionary conditions on your Supervised Release.

As discussed, the Standard Conditions listed on PG. 223 above are almost always added.

The following discretionary conditions may also be added (all but one of these is the same as those listed under federal probation, PG. 230):

    Require you to support your dependents and meet other family responsibilities;
    Require that you make restitution to a victim of the offense under section 3556
    Require that you give notice (ordered pursuant to the provisions of section 3555) to the victims of the offense;
    Require that you be employed or be pursuing educational/vocational training to prepare you for suitable employment;
    Prevent you altogether from working in a specified occupation, business, or profession with a reasonably direct relationship to the conduct underlying your commitment offense (OR prevent you from working in a specified occupation, business, or profession only to a certain degree/under stated circumstances);
    Forbid you from going to specified kinds of places;
    Forbid you from associating with specified persons;
    Forbid you from excessive use of alcohol, or any use of a narcotic drug or other controlled substance, as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802), without a prescription by a licensed medical practitioner;
    Forbid you from possessing a firearm, destructive device, or other dangerous weapon;
    Require that you get medical, psychiatric, or psychological treatment, including treatment for drug or alcohol dependency (as specified by the court
    Require that you live in a specified institution foe medical, psychiatric, or psychological treatment[1158]
    Require that you remain in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons during nights, weekends, or other intervals of time, totaling no more than the lesser of one year or the term of imprisonment authorized for the offense,[1159] during the first year of the term of probation or supervised release (this is known as intermittent confinement);[1160]
    Require you to live at a community corrections facility (including somewhere maintained by or contracted with the Bureau of Prisons), or attend a program at such a community corrections facility, for all or part of the term of probation;
    Require you to work in community service as directed by the court;
    Require you to live in a specified place or area, or prevent you from living in a specified place or area;
    Require you to remain within the jurisdiction of the court, unless granted permission to leave by the court or a probation officer;
    Require you report to a probation officer as directed by the court or the probation officer;
    Allow a probation officer to visit you at your home or elsewhere as specified by the court;
    Require you to quickly notify your probation officer, or answer your P.O.’s questions, about any change in address or employment;
    Require you to quickly notify your probation officer if you are arrested or questioned by a law enforcement officer;
    Require you to stay at home/where you live during non-working hours, and require you to be monitored by telephonic or electronic signaling devices to track you and make sure you are at home during these times.[1161] However, if you were sentenced to a term of incarceration, this condition cannot be imposed on you.[1162] This condition can only be used as an alternative to incarceration.[1163]
    Require that you obey any court order or other government administrative order that requires you to pay for support/maintenance of a child or to both the child and parent with whom the child is living;
    Deport you if you are “deportable” by law;
    Satisfy any other court-imposed conditions;[1164] and
    Finally, there are additional “special conditions” that are discretionary for particular kinds of cases under Supervised Release:

If you are a noncitizen subject to deportation by law:

The court may order you deported and that you remain outside the U.S. as a condition of your Supervised Release, and may order that you are handed over to an authorized immigration official for such deportation.

If you are required to register as a Sex Offender:

    If your conviction is for a sex offense, the judge will consider imposing the following special conditions:
    A search at any time, with or without a warrant, of your person, any property, your house/residence, vehicle, papers, computer, or other electronic/data devices or media, by any law enforcement or probation officer with reasonable suspicion concerning a violation of a condition of probation or unlawful conduct, and by any probation officer lawfully carrying out his/her function of supervision.[1165]
    Require you to participate in a program for the treatment and monitoring of sex offenders;[1166]
    Limit your use of a computer if one was used as part of your commitment offense;
    Require you to submit to random, warrantless searches of your person, residence, and computers;[1167]
    Residency Restrictions (meaning there will be certain places you cannot live);
    Contact Restrictions (meaning there will be certain people you cannot have contact with);
    Movement Restrictions (meaning there will be certain places you will not be able to go);
    Employment/Occupational Restrictions (meaning there will be certain types of jobs you cannot have);[1168]
    Polygraph and/or Penile Plethysmograph Testing;[1169]
    Tracking Conditions; and
    Restrictions on the Possession of Certain Materials (meaning there will be certain things you cannot have on your person or in your home)[1170]
    If you were convicted of a sex offense, you should ask about any special conditions that apply to you as they differ slightly among jurisdictions and judges. If you were convicted of a federal sex offense, you most likely will have to follow some version of the above conditions.
  1. 1158

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(b). ↑

  2. 1159

    18 U.S.C. § 3583(d); U.S.S.G. § 5F1.8. ↑

  3. 1160

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(10) (known as “intermittent confinement”). See also U.S.S.G. § 5F1.8, which states that intermittent confinement may be imposed as a condition of probation during the first year of federal probation. See 18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(10). It may be imposed as a condition of supervised release during the first year of supervised release, but only for a violation of a condition of supervised release in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(2) and only when facilities are available. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d). ↑

  4. 1161

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(b). ↑

  5. 1162

    This is not true of Supervised Release. That is, you can be convicted of a crime, sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and be ordered to serve an additional period of time on house arrest as a condition of Supervised Release. ↑

  6. 1163

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(19) (2008). This is because if you are sentenced to a term of incarceration, you cannot receive a sentence of probation. Rather, you would receive a term of supervised release following imprisonment as part of your sentence. ↑

  7. 1164

    18 U.S.C. § 3563(b). ↑

  8. 1165

    18 U.S.C. § 3583(d). ↑

  9. 1166

    See U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(d); Jennifer Gilg, The Fine Print: Strategies for Avoiding Restrictive Conditions of Supervised Release, http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics---common-offenses/fine_print.pdf. ↑

  10. 1167

    See U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(d); Jennifer Gilg, The Fine Print: Strategies for Avoiding Restrictive Conditions of Supervised Release, http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics---common-offenses/fine_print.pdf. ↑

  11. 1168

    See also Defender Services Office, The Fine Print: Strategies for Avoiding Restrictive Conditions of Supervised Release, http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics---common-offenses/fine_print.pdf, pp. 3-6. ↑

  12. 1169

    See D. Richard Laws, Penile Plethysmography: Will We Ever Get It Right? in Sexual Deviance: Issues and Controversies 82, 85 (Tony Ward, D. Richard Laws & Stephen M. Hudson eds., Sage Publications, Inc. 2003). Penile Plethysmograph Testing (PPG) is a procedure that uses a gauge to measure the change in a man’s penis size. Courts sometimes proscribe PPG. as a condition of sex offender treatment. See also Defender Services Office, The Fine Print: Strategies for Avoiding Restrictive Conditions of Supervised Release, http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics---common-offenses/fine_print.pdf, pp. 3-6; ↑

  13. 1170

    See also Defender Services Office, The Fine Print: Strategies for Avoiding Restrictive Conditions of Supervised Release, http://www.fd.org/docs/select-topics---common-offenses/fine_print.pdf, pp. 3-6. ↑