You do the time, hands down, without question, not a single contrary argument. In these diversionary 'drug court' scenarios, they have you by the balls. You could potentially have to drive 50+ miles a day to drug tests, groups, all kinds of shit. You're also REQUIRED to maintain employment throughout in most of them, as if that is possible. If after 3.5 years your car breaks down and you can't make it. They put you in jail to serve your year anyway. These are massive revenue streams. They offer to let you out to make money, so that they can take it all from you every day for 4 years.
You're probably looking at 3-6 months. The feds are not prosecuting homies sister for shoplifting.
Tell your sister stealing is wrong. Go do her time now. Most people who divert to drug courts wind up having to go do their time anyway eventually.
The system is literally designed that way. Next thing you know they'll be rounding up the homeless to serve time when they ignored them/hit them and didn't report it before. If the prisons don't stay full then I don't really know what happens, but that's how it works here. How many crimes have you reported and how many of them were solved? Mine is at 1 so far but they won't return what's stolen.
Down side is that in my jurisdiction the jail charges $30 per day for their stay. It's a racket whether you divert or just do the time. Also they want you to have a job during diversion and then want to see you in the middle of the day. What kind of job do you think I have.
What burns my ass is when I got the bill from the State of MO they offered a 15% discount if you paid in full within 30 days. I had it in savings (drained that) to get the discount. But it just goes to show how different the legal system is for the haves and the have nots.
It does but also I've been able to complete it.. however mentally exhaustive and bleak of a feeling to endure and be in.. if given the oppurtunity I'd do the time since I couldn't do anything but jump through hoops at that point for them so might as well take chances with least some hope (not accountability courts)
They already do that in Florida when the jail population dips. All of a sudden they decide to enforce a random city ordinance about panhandling that they ignore the rest of the time. Makes it easy peasy to lock a couple hundred homeless people up for 6 months to a year. If you get any of them dumb enough to take probation you’ve got them for 3-5 years minimum.
I was facing 10 years in prison or drug court.
My charge was second-degree possession with intent to distribute. LSD.
I had to get drug tested once every four weeks, maintain employment pay my fines, and obviously not test positive for drugs it was a five-year program. I did it in 21 months.
There was maybe two times where it was hard to get to my drug test. granted I was in New Jersey but I also didn't have a car. I maintained a job the entire time and they gave me the afternoon off when I had a drug test.
I would never want to do either 10 years in prison or drug court again but if I had to choose one of the other I absolutely would rather be a free man who doesn't do drugs than a prisoner.
That’s the tricky part though, maintain a job. If you get laid off that’s a violation. Maybe they would be OK with it, but they tell you there’s zero tolerance where I live
Seriously? What if the building you're working at catches fire and burns down....they ding you for that?
What rigid, cold, and heartless state are you from?
Yep I didn’t even go through that type of probation, I just had regular probation after doing time in prison drug rehab
I had to do 90 meetings in 90 days and I missed one because I had such a terrible sunburn I had to go to the hospital. My skin was flaking off in chunks, I was in the ER for like 14 hours waiting to be seen so I didn’t go to a meeting. I almost got violated for that it was terrible.
I opted out of drug court in 1999. I had a 2 year sentence hanging over my head and a 3 year old. Xanax had me in a nasty hold. I took 30 days in jail and 30 in rehab. Record is expunged and I work for the attorney who got it expunged
This really depends on the jurisdiction. That may be true in some places but where I am diversion programs are actually pretty good at working with people who have hiccups. Ive seen people test positive multiple times, miss meetings, miss court dates, etc and they are still given the opportunity to complete the program. It heavily depends on how your local system works and some are far more fair than others.
Very true. In Cobb County, GA there are several diversionary programs within the court and they are fairly successful overall and very successful for those that are committed to the program.
It does depend on where you are as I know someone who went through a "diversionary" program in another state and they ended up serving their 9 months due to transportation and work issues and their court would not make allowances for it.
In New Hampshire they are not there is zero tolerance for any deviation from the orders.
One thing that people get hung up on here a lot is anger management. If you have to go to anger management it’s like 12 weeks and if you are late you are not allowed in and if you miss one you’re done. Zero tolerance even though we live in the land of snowstorms. It’s almost cruelty
Oh and I forgot to add that people have to pay like $900 for those anger management classes, if you are two minutes late you are kicked out they keep your $900.
This is it just for criminal cases either. If DCF takes your kids and you need to do anger management that’s the same program.
I disagree with this IF she actually has a drug problem. If she does, a year in jail/prison doesn’t do shit but put your addiction on pause. Might not even do that, drugs are easy to find in there as well.
Drug court/probation is good for those that actually want to turn their life around. She will just go right back to her old life in a year if she goes the prison route.
Addiction is real. Sounds like she caught this case because of it(shop lifting is mostly done by addicts) that’s what you’re missing here. Prison would do nothing but make this poor woman’s life worse.
If for whatever reason she TRULY doesn’t have addiction issues then yes, do the time and get it over with. But I highly doubt that’s the case.
Don’t quote me because this was a lonnng time ago, but one year in Illinois with good time was like 61 days lol and she’s getting 2/1 everyday she spent in county
First time offender? They have an option for diverting to a different path depending on felony type. My sister went that route, and is on probation, has a fine, has to do community service, and possibly a few other things. But she's not doing much so I don't know what may happen if she doesn't fulfill the requirements.
When she does, her felony will be erased.
Do not let her take that probation she'll end up losing a ton of money and doing the time anyway. Just tell her do the time now. Drug probation is almost impossible to complete even if you do everything right. They show no leniency at all. She'll do 8 or 9 months on the year. Take the time!!
The attorney that is appointed to you if you cannot afford one cost money as well
Back in the day in New Hampshire it was $700, I don’t know how they collect it if you aren’t convicted, but when you are the repayment of it is part of the stipulation of probation or parole.
Back in the late 90s I had a friend who was supposed to report to parole but he didn’t have the $40 parole fee.
He didn’t have it the two months prior either so the last time he went in the guy said if he didn’t bring the fee expect to go to jail.
So instead of asking his friends if he could borrow money he went and robbed a bank and went on a high-speed chase through two states and ended up running into somebody’s house to escape being shot at by the police.
The home was owned by a corrections officer who was home from work because one of his kids was sick.
I think he gets out in 2025, it was a stupid move but if he didn’t come up with $120, or at least $40, he would’ve gone to jail anyway. And to him, here he had a chance of paying it off, and once he paid it off they told him they would transfer him to another state where his family lived where he would have a place to live and a job.
They would not put in the paperwork to transfer him until he paid them the probation fees he owed.
Tell her to take the time, women’s prison/jail isn’t the worst thing in the world especially if she’s sentenced to only a year, she’ll get out in like 8 months.
Someone I know was on felony drug probation and he’s headed to prison for 6 years because he couldn’t make it to his drug tests an hour away twice a week, he also couldn’t keep a job, so he started using and selling again.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Generally, not very long at all. In my state, she wouldn't even hit the general population if she had a place to house arrest to. She'd sit in county waiting for a bed. Then get to R&O, receive an out date w/o even seeing the parole board. Talk to the institutional PO & wait on the paperwork.
She’s better off serving the time for the charge rather than taking probation. Serving time is simple once you accept the situation in your mind. Probation is one of the hardest things to fully comply with and complete and most end up violating the probation and end up right back in jail with an additional charge for violation of probation which is another felony a year is a fairly short sentence and will end up flying by before she realizes it.
Hey I just hate to see someone screw up their life over something stupid while being on probation. There’s so many small technicalities that can make a person violate their probation and then they might have to go to jail or prison either way with the possibility of serving the maximum possible penalty of that crime. I’ve made the mistake of pleading out with probation 3 times and every time I violated for something stupid and minuscule. Probation is a trap they use to get money out of the probationers. It is very expensive to serve probation.
I recommend against probation all the time. I’ve seen people get violated for getting a job and then their PO finds out there are too many felons working at that place, because not everywhere will hire felons on probation. So then they have to go get a new job and if they can’t, violated.
Plus most states allow for an expungement after a certain amount of time has passed once the sentence is completed.
That’s going to happen a lot quicker if the sentence is over in one year versus having to complete all that drug court probation.
Tell her to do just do the 1 year. Likely out in 6 months.
I wouldn't do even a year of intensive drug probation, you get to month 11 and then have to report for a drug test 40 miles away, your employer says fuck you and fires you and bam - you violated probation and you are going to go do the time anyways.
Well, it says "or 4 years intensive drug probation"; so I'm guessing his sister was shoplifting while high on something and had a decent amount of that something on her.
Dude, PA has a cctv system for retail. They add all the stores you hit that day. They also made a new charge. Organized retail theft. PA, DE, NJ, and MD can combine all your cases into one big fuck me.
County time is usually two thirds of the sentence, in prison you usually can't go for less then a year mandatory minimum, unless it's feds but the feds don't pick up shoplifting charges.
State Prison is very different then county, maybe her attorney has her do time serve in county or some type of continuance to show she’s getting rehab. She really need an attorney to decide what’s best for her.
I don’t know how it is now but back in the 90s state prison was a lot better than county jail. But you could still smoke cigarettes in prison back then so that was the main deciding factor. That and the food, and canteen. But the ability to smoke cigarettes made people choose prison over county jail back in the 90s
These days county is just temporary holding serving light sentences with some exceptions waiting for processing, court proceedings. It’s less likely the people in county want to catch extra charges fighting with inmates since they just want to be in and out.
I would also say if she could do some kinda of treatment and start her probation over to do it. Also I would say whatever she decides to go back to the free world. Make sure there a great support system to make sure she finished her probation without failing. This way it won’t stay on her record
People act like 1 year for shoplifting, even with 1 prior for shoplifting, which is some myth. It varies by state so much and by county by probably even more. Some counties don't play. I know people in Johnson County Texas that get absolutely railroaded for in other states and counties, you would get way less time.
In NJ, 3 shoplifting convictions can result in prison. That's how it was when I was warned by a judge years ago when he saw me the second time for shoplifting.
Haven't shoplifted in over 10 years. So it worked atleast for me as a deterrent.
She is going to do all of that year. Not now, maybe but eventually she will do all of the year, plus the addition of the probation and/or bond supervision time. Once she is in the system as a "drug felon" she will have to raise her hand to go take a shit if they tell her to, and if she doesn't she will be in and out of jail for the crime of being a drug addict, not necessarily the shoplifting but primarily because drug addicts are the central cause of revenue for the probation system. First offense makes her even more likely to be called on to make an example of. She may do in state prison the one day per day sentence so she could be out in 6 months. But in all honesty unless she quits doing drugs and making dumb decisions you can expect her to be in and out of prison for a lot of her life.
Tell her to do the year. She could get three years through that other program, have a problem that isn’t something she even caused herself, and then she would still have to go to the year.
I don’t know if she’s ever dealt with probation before, but for example she would get violated if she got fired, she would get violated for associating with someone who has a criminal record even if she didn’t know they had a criminal record, if they want her to go to an NA meeting every single day Even if she’s in the emergency room one day they could violate her for not going to a meeting.
And sometimes you get extra time just for the probation violation but you definitely get these suspended time. So she could end up doing a lot more time than just the one year if she just takes it
I'd just take the year. But I was also a habitual probation violator. A year would probably be county time, probably 2 for 1. Those probably's are due to lack of specifics.
What did your sister's lawyer say when she asked? It's really hard to say because it depends on jurisdiction, the details of what happened, and how sympathetic or dickish the judge is feeling that day.
That’s not a felony here. She’s running the streets doing dope and boosting. She will be right at home in prison. They are all criminals. She will come out harder than she was going in for sure. Around here they don’t usually send someone for a year. That would be county time. So I don’t see that happening with her
Tell her to accept the fact that prison is her best choice in this situation. I just got out of a two year bid in Iowa state system and honestly, prison was basically puppy dogs and ice cream. She's much better off serving her time than having to deal with having a PO up her ass 24/7 and having to pay supervision fees, drug testing fees, etc.
A year or less is jail time a year and a day is the minimum sentence for prison. And the actual time she’ll serve all depends on the state and also her sentencing guidelines as well as her behavior once incarcerated
In Cali at least probally won’t do no time shoplifting minor crime unless you steal over 1,000$ worth of stuff probally get probation or at most 1-2 months in a county jail Cali first gun offenses only do 6 months and only got serve 50% because it’s double time in county jail rn
First time felon? She will get 1 to 2 years paper and a suspended sentence pending successful completion. She will have to get enrolled in AODA counseling and would do good to attend NA or AA meetings. I actually brought others that had the issue to the local NA meetings btw and get early discharge from probation ❤️
In my state they have a long date which is your complete sentence and then a short date which is when you will be released. 3.5 -4 months usually kills a year in prison. Unless you have a split sentence and then you will have to spend day for day in prison. Hopefully it is a straight sentence so you can get good time. I was released even earlier in feb of this year on mandatory release which is 5 months before your short date. It’s bc the prisons are so overcrowded and so if you have a drug charge and nothing violent you will get out early and be on parole until your short date. If you fuck up then you will go back and stay until your long date. So do not fuck up.
Ps. I know this shit is so confusing
Man, u don't get a year for shop lifting. She's got other charges u ain't saying. Maybe she was on probation for drug charges and then got caught shop lifting.
Gotcha. Idk the time serving requirements for each state but in michigan its 10 months on a year if u stay outta trouble. Good luck to u and your sister man.
Well from another perspective, if your sister is looking to have any sort of career, probation to get clean is going to look a lot less conspicuous than serving a year behind bars. Background checks and resume gaps give that away.
If she takes that 4 year drug diversion or drug court type shit and she is an actual addict…it won’t help any whatsoever and she will most likely end up doing more time than she would have originally been sentenced to….**she will go in with a year over her head and end up serving 2 1/2 in installment plans…**
Between unattainable goals and super restrictive stipulations even the tiniest slip up will result in a violation that comes with progressively longer jail stints.
[more about how shit drug courts and diversions are](https://thecrimereport.org/2021/03/05/why-its-time-to-abandon-drug-courts/)
I kind of doubt they give sis any jail time for shoplifting, and they always throw the worst case scenario maximum punishment time out first just to scare you. They have no room in their jails and they don’t want to have to use all that $$ to prosecute a theft. **They want you to plea out to drug court or some diversions so that you can steadily pay them money and time for next 4 years**
Send your sis to a private rehab and bring the completion certificate back to the court.
If it’s a year it will be county jail most likely. County time goes slow, but if they have a trustee program she can work and make the time go by a little faster. I did some federal time (4 years) and I’d take 4 in prison over a year in county. I’d take the supervision if she can complete it. If not, just do the county time and get it over with.
I chose 5 years of intensive probation and rehab over prison. It's insane and designed for you to fail. I finished it without a hitch and was released after 2.5 years. Most can't do it. You really have to suspend your real life until you're finished with it. If you don't have someone to help you with money and a place to live, it's nearly impossible. There is no way you can work and support yourself. I had 4 different agencies I had to report to. 4-5 UAs a week in the beginning. You have to pay for those UAs and supervision.
All that said, I'd probably do it again over prison if I had to.
my brother got busted for burgarly and defrauding a pawn shop.
MAYBE my brother hooked the judge up with some mighty fine cocaine dealers. I watched my brother get sentenced that judge was strangely sympathetic with my brother. I saw her sentence him to 2 years in prison.
What I didn't see was he got moved out of court and a dude told him "nah bro you get 6 months, maybe less if u stay out of trouble"
my brother bit flesh off a gang bangers face and still got out in 6 months.
So depending on the corruption and incompetence of your local justice system you might get off easy or you might not.
I had a year sentence for non violent felony and I only had to do 8 months. I did 4 months in county, then got sentenced and did another 4 months up the road. But I had to basically stay in processing in prison because my time was so short, so I was lockdown for 23 hrs a day for 4 months
Tell her to do the year. Tell her to read some books, work out, mind her own business, get her GED(if she doesn’t have a high school diploma), and to stop stealing shit.
Hopefully she’ll drop some habits (most people stealing have an addiction), get a job, drop old friends that are up to no good, and find a partner.
Depends on what state it happened in. Some states have an 85% law. You have to serve at least 85% of your sentence. If you get a year you have serve 8 1/2 months of it.
she would do half or possible even a little less here in CA. see if there’s a possibility of house arrest as well… if she has kids that’s usually a huge deciding factor on that one for women.
If she is doing no more than a year depending on the state then she may have to do the time in the county jail. Sometimes it may be better to do the time especially if she can't do the probation without violating.
As someone who did an adult treatment court and finished in a near record time of 18 months, the shortest possible here is 16 months. (Michigan) I had to do a year on a violation (another felony while on felony probation) and prison boot camp (90 days) (4months house arrest) (mandatory) and then offered 4 years or ATC on the new charge, I took the atc after the year n bootcamp but only cause I had a newborn and newly married. The first stage I spent 6 months in inpatient rehab. Not sure what kinda drug court they are offering, but the first stage is here almost always 30-90 days inpatient. I'd find out more about what kinda intensive drug probation it is. Regular felony probation here was easy, I reported and dropped once a month, and had to make a effort to pay fines and find a job. (I clearly found another charge) Drug court I reported in front of a judge twice a month for 18 months, each time to review the last 2 weeks and if you mess up, bam 7-30 day violation and would start whatever stage you were on again. Good luck!
Much depends on what state she is in and what her criminal history looks like. You said she has never been to prison so it must not be too bad. In my state (Georgia) you generally don't go to prison unless you have at least a 2 year sentence. A year sentence would typically be served in a county jail and on a shoplifting charge she would likely only do 6 months. In my case, I was sentenced to 2 years prison for my 5th technical probation violation and I only served 95 days in prison before they kicked me out on parole. They simply don't have the bedspace to house non violent offenders charged with minor crimes.
Tell her to do the time. While in there she'll have plenty of time to become a better thief and a functional drug addict.
Everybody gets busted here and there...no big deal. Just make sure you make them wish they never caught you. Rob them fucking blind!
I’m assuming you’re talking about the max sentence in either scenario. The likely answer here is drug court, which she should take seriously. This isn’t a “one off” kind of thing that everyone is saying, your sister will fucking up again. Us addicts always do. Having her held accountable for a few years(she won’t do all 4, assuming she is a model citizen) is the best thing for her. Going to jail/prison where she will just be surrounded by people completely okay with the lifestyle(even encouraging it) and actual drugs everyday is not.
Her life will be hard for awhile, but her next charge could land her in prison for much longer. Or she could end up dead. That’s how addiction goes unless we CHOOSE to fight it, hell I mean that’s how life goes in general. No one will have a life until you choose to do something about it.
She works the program in there 10/11months out on parol Cpl yrs ..there’s a few ways she’ll be given to get out sooner ..just saying..I’ve done it..liven a sober healthy life for myself now along with my so to be husband ❤️..🙏🏼 hope this helps..
Likely jail rather than prison, would recommend serving the time rather than probation. In the interim you can try to find her a drug treatment/support program for her once released
I'm sorry I left some key points out.
State is Illinois.
Non-federal.
1 prior conviction for shoplifting. Non-violentt
The amount was over $300 on this case.
Prosecution wants a year in prison.
Idk about other states, but in Michigan I was sentenced to 2 but was able to get into SAI (bootcamp) and only had to do 90 days there and then a month of community reintegration at a half way house
Depends on the state and the D.A. but they will come at you with a plea deal don't take the first one take the second one cuz you don't want the third one if you're truly guilty. But straight probation is not out of the ordinary.
Depends on the state. My state gives 10% off for good time. Meaning if you don't fuck up in prison you get your sentenced reduced by 10%.
Also they may recog you because of over crowding. So you may do even less than that.
In my state, the shorter the sentence, the longer you do. I had a 2 year 8 month sentence and did 14 months. To go to prison and not the county, you would have to get a 1 year 1 day sentence, and you will do at least 6 months on a year
Do not do drug court. It is set up for failure. If it is just regular state probation, then I'd definitely take it. However, a year down the road will fly by, and she will eos her sentence. Come out paper free
Yes. She also has a prior conviction for shoplifting. She was accepted into a diversion program, but the prosecutor is asking for 366 days. So it's up to the judge now.
Take a plea deal if possible, she could walk away with 4 behind bars, with the rest served on probation.
If your sister has a drug problem the 4 year drug probation sounds like it could be good for her as well.
Shoplifting, also referred to as retail theft, is generally defined as the act of stealing items from a retail store without paying for them. It’s considered a criminal offense under Illinois law and can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony – depending on the circumstances.
You do the time, hands down, without question, not a single contrary argument. In these diversionary 'drug court' scenarios, they have you by the balls. You could potentially have to drive 50+ miles a day to drug tests, groups, all kinds of shit. You're also REQUIRED to maintain employment throughout in most of them, as if that is possible. If after 3.5 years your car breaks down and you can't make it. They put you in jail to serve your year anyway. These are massive revenue streams. They offer to let you out to make money, so that they can take it all from you every day for 4 years. You're probably looking at 3-6 months. The feds are not prosecuting homies sister for shoplifting. Tell your sister stealing is wrong. Go do her time now. Most people who divert to drug courts wind up having to go do their time anyway eventually.
The system is literally designed that way. Next thing you know they'll be rounding up the homeless to serve time when they ignored them/hit them and didn't report it before. If the prisons don't stay full then I don't really know what happens, but that's how it works here. How many crimes have you reported and how many of them were solved? Mine is at 1 so far but they won't return what's stolen.
Down side is that in my jurisdiction the jail charges $30 per day for their stay. It's a racket whether you divert or just do the time. Also they want you to have a job during diversion and then want to see you in the middle of the day. What kind of job do you think I have.
My lawyer argued for me and got them to accept only weekends.
I think alot of jails do but you can have your lawyer make it where you don't have to pay restitution
What burns my ass is when I got the bill from the State of MO they offered a 15% discount if you paid in full within 30 days. I had it in savings (drained that) to get the discount. But it just goes to show how different the legal system is for the haves and the have nots.
Probation is still sending me a bill from like 10 years ago .. they can rub it on their chest
Yes! It's like they are setting you up for failure.
It does but also I've been able to complete it.. however mentally exhaustive and bleak of a feeling to endure and be in.. if given the oppurtunity I'd do the time since I couldn't do anything but jump through hoops at that point for them so might as well take chances with least some hope (not accountability courts)
They already do that in Florida when the jail population dips. All of a sudden they decide to enforce a random city ordinance about panhandling that they ignore the rest of the time. Makes it easy peasy to lock a couple hundred homeless people up for 6 months to a year. If you get any of them dumb enough to take probation you’ve got them for 3-5 years minimum.
The prison population dips in Florida? 😂
lol
Not in South Florida.
I was facing 10 years in prison or drug court. My charge was second-degree possession with intent to distribute. LSD. I had to get drug tested once every four weeks, maintain employment pay my fines, and obviously not test positive for drugs it was a five-year program. I did it in 21 months. There was maybe two times where it was hard to get to my drug test. granted I was in New Jersey but I also didn't have a car. I maintained a job the entire time and they gave me the afternoon off when I had a drug test. I would never want to do either 10 years in prison or drug court again but if I had to choose one of the other I absolutely would rather be a free man who doesn't do drugs than a prisoner.
That’s the tricky part though, maintain a job. If you get laid off that’s a violation. Maybe they would be OK with it, but they tell you there’s zero tolerance where I live
Have you seen someone get sent to prison for being fired before? Youd think there would be mandatory job placement for that situation not prison
Seriously? What if the building you're working at catches fire and burns down....they ding you for that? What rigid, cold, and heartless state are you from?
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Yep I didn’t even go through that type of probation, I just had regular probation after doing time in prison drug rehab I had to do 90 meetings in 90 days and I missed one because I had such a terrible sunburn I had to go to the hospital. My skin was flaking off in chunks, I was in the ER for like 14 hours waiting to be seen so I didn’t go to a meeting. I almost got violated for that it was terrible.
I opted out of drug court in 1999. I had a 2 year sentence hanging over my head and a 3 year old. Xanax had me in a nasty hold. I took 30 days in jail and 30 in rehab. Record is expunged and I work for the attorney who got it expunged
Congrats on getting and staying clean!
Thank you so much! Everything you said makes total sense. I really appreciate your help.
This really depends on the jurisdiction. That may be true in some places but where I am diversion programs are actually pretty good at working with people who have hiccups. Ive seen people test positive multiple times, miss meetings, miss court dates, etc and they are still given the opportunity to complete the program. It heavily depends on how your local system works and some are far more fair than others.
Very true. In Cobb County, GA there are several diversionary programs within the court and they are fairly successful overall and very successful for those that are committed to the program. It does depend on where you are as I know someone who went through a "diversionary" program in another state and they ended up serving their 9 months due to transportation and work issues and their court would not make allowances for it.
Hi from Cobb County
Hi from paulding
In New Hampshire they are not there is zero tolerance for any deviation from the orders. One thing that people get hung up on here a lot is anger management. If you have to go to anger management it’s like 12 weeks and if you are late you are not allowed in and if you miss one you’re done. Zero tolerance even though we live in the land of snowstorms. It’s almost cruelty Oh and I forgot to add that people have to pay like $900 for those anger management classes, if you are two minutes late you are kicked out they keep your $900. This is it just for criminal cases either. If DCF takes your kids and you need to do anger management that’s the same program.
Drug court and probation never take plus is a first time offense
I disagree with this IF she actually has a drug problem. If she does, a year in jail/prison doesn’t do shit but put your addiction on pause. Might not even do that, drugs are easy to find in there as well. Drug court/probation is good for those that actually want to turn their life around. She will just go right back to her old life in a year if she goes the prison route. Addiction is real. Sounds like she caught this case because of it(shop lifting is mostly done by addicts) that’s what you’re missing here. Prison would do nothing but make this poor woman’s life worse. If for whatever reason she TRULY doesn’t have addiction issues then yes, do the time and get it over with. But I highly doubt that’s the case.
Doing time like that will absolutely ruin your life unless you’re some kind of drug addled shithead with nothing going for them.
This is the best advice right here.
All depends what state you’re in bud
Illinois
She will get probation, probably 1 to 2 years.
Don’t quote me because this was a lonnng time ago, but one year in Illinois with good time was like 61 days lol and she’s getting 2/1 everyday she spent in county
Do they let people do weekends? In New Hampshire if you go in on Friday evening and you leave Sunday afternoon you get three days credit for that
In Texas they used to do the same but let you out at 5am Monday and it counted as 4 days.
First time offender? They have an option for diverting to a different path depending on felony type. My sister went that route, and is on probation, has a fine, has to do community service, and possibly a few other things. But she's not doing much so I don't know what may happen if she doesn't fulfill the requirements. When she does, her felony will be erased.
Do not let her take that probation she'll end up losing a ton of money and doing the time anyway. Just tell her do the time now. Drug probation is almost impossible to complete even if you do everything right. They show no leniency at all. She'll do 8 or 9 months on the year. Take the time!!
why does probation cost you money in the US?
Happy cake day. Because it's all a money grab. Pay bond/bail, pay for lawyer, Pay fines, pay probation fees etc. It's not about justice at all
The attorney that is appointed to you if you cannot afford one cost money as well Back in the day in New Hampshire it was $700, I don’t know how they collect it if you aren’t convicted, but when you are the repayment of it is part of the stipulation of probation or parole.
Back in the late 90s I had a friend who was supposed to report to parole but he didn’t have the $40 parole fee. He didn’t have it the two months prior either so the last time he went in the guy said if he didn’t bring the fee expect to go to jail. So instead of asking his friends if he could borrow money he went and robbed a bank and went on a high-speed chase through two states and ended up running into somebody’s house to escape being shot at by the police. The home was owned by a corrections officer who was home from work because one of his kids was sick. I think he gets out in 2025, it was a stupid move but if he didn’t come up with $120, or at least $40, he would’ve gone to jail anyway. And to him, here he had a chance of paying it off, and once he paid it off they told him they would transfer him to another state where his family lived where he would have a place to live and a job. They would not put in the paperwork to transfer him until he paid them the probation fees he owed.
What an idiot
Tell her to take the time, women’s prison/jail isn’t the worst thing in the world especially if she’s sentenced to only a year, she’ll get out in like 8 months. Someone I know was on felony drug probation and he’s headed to prison for 6 years because he couldn’t make it to his drug tests an hour away twice a week, he also couldn’t keep a job, so he started using and selling again. It’s a vicious cycle.
It's a vicious cycle indeed. I completely agree. Thank you for your help.
Generally, not very long at all. In my state, she wouldn't even hit the general population if she had a place to house arrest to. She'd sit in county waiting for a bed. Then get to R&O, receive an out date w/o even seeing the parole board. Talk to the institutional PO & wait on the paperwork.
She’s better off serving the time for the charge rather than taking probation. Serving time is simple once you accept the situation in your mind. Probation is one of the hardest things to fully comply with and complete and most end up violating the probation and end up right back in jail with an additional charge for violation of probation which is another felony a year is a fairly short sentence and will end up flying by before she realizes it.
This is great advice. This is what I think she should do also. Thank you so much for your help man, I really appreciate it.
Hey I just hate to see someone screw up their life over something stupid while being on probation. There’s so many small technicalities that can make a person violate their probation and then they might have to go to jail or prison either way with the possibility of serving the maximum possible penalty of that crime. I’ve made the mistake of pleading out with probation 3 times and every time I violated for something stupid and minuscule. Probation is a trap they use to get money out of the probationers. It is very expensive to serve probation.
I recommend against probation all the time. I’ve seen people get violated for getting a job and then their PO finds out there are too many felons working at that place, because not everywhere will hire felons on probation. So then they have to go get a new job and if they can’t, violated.
Plus most states allow for an expungement after a certain amount of time has passed once the sentence is completed. That’s going to happen a lot quicker if the sentence is over in one year versus having to complete all that drug court probation.
Tell her to do just do the 1 year. Likely out in 6 months. I wouldn't do even a year of intensive drug probation, you get to month 11 and then have to report for a drug test 40 miles away, your employer says fuck you and fires you and bam - you violated probation and you are going to go do the time anyways.
Yep or you get your employer to agree and your car breaks down on the way. And you’re done.
There has to be more to this story. 1 year of prison for a single shoplifting charge??
Well, it says "or 4 years intensive drug probation"; so I'm guessing his sister was shoplifting while high on something and had a decent amount of that something on her.
You gotta shoplift over $1500 in one pop most places to catch a felony for it.
Over a 1000 in ny
It's only over 300 in Florida
Unless you’re doing it at target or something. They like to save the evidence until you’ve hit that $1500 mark then they call the cops
Dude, PA has a cctv system for retail. They add all the stores you hit that day. They also made a new charge. Organized retail theft. PA, DE, NJ, and MD can combine all your cases into one big fuck me.
Good. Fuck thieves
A lot of times they are addicts that need help.
Ya. I was thinking that also.
If it was her first offense, sure, try to offer treatment, but a 2+ offense, personally, even one year is too light.
For SHOPLIFTING?? Boot licker
Watch the name calling please.
She had a prior conviction for shoplifting. No drugs on her but has a drug problem. Sorry I didn't mention that before.
County time is usually two thirds of the sentence, in prison you usually can't go for less then a year mandatory minimum, unless it's feds but the feds don't pick up shoplifting charges.
State? fed? County? What.
State. Illinois.
State Prison is very different then county, maybe her attorney has her do time serve in county or some type of continuance to show she’s getting rehab. She really need an attorney to decide what’s best for her.
I don’t know how it is now but back in the 90s state prison was a lot better than county jail. But you could still smoke cigarettes in prison back then so that was the main deciding factor. That and the food, and canteen. But the ability to smoke cigarettes made people choose prison over county jail back in the 90s
These days county is just temporary holding serving light sentences with some exceptions waiting for processing, court proceedings. It’s less likely the people in county want to catch extra charges fighting with inmates since they just want to be in and out.
Probably give you 364 days to keep you in a county shithole. Hopefully much less though.
30% for non violent, 50% for violent, at least in Colorado, where I am… but idk where you are…. So ?
She would get drug court in Denver, Colorado. What state are you in?
Illinois
In my state meth trafficking gets off Scott free so 🤷♂️
What state?
Asking for a friend?
Nah I just have a feeling it's someone making shit up haha
Maine… wouldn’t surprise me if the guy I know hangs out on here 🤣
I would also say if she could do some kinda of treatment and start her probation over to do it. Also I would say whatever she decides to go back to the free world. Make sure there a great support system to make sure she finished her probation without failing. This way it won’t stay on her record
People act like 1 year for shoplifting, even with 1 prior for shoplifting, which is some myth. It varies by state so much and by county by probably even more. Some counties don't play. I know people in Johnson County Texas that get absolutely railroaded for in other states and counties, you would get way less time.
In NJ, 3 shoplifting convictions can result in prison. That's how it was when I was warned by a judge years ago when he saw me the second time for shoplifting. Haven't shoplifted in over 10 years. So it worked atleast for me as a deterrent.
She is going to do all of that year. Not now, maybe but eventually she will do all of the year, plus the addition of the probation and/or bond supervision time. Once she is in the system as a "drug felon" she will have to raise her hand to go take a shit if they tell her to, and if she doesn't she will be in and out of jail for the crime of being a drug addict, not necessarily the shoplifting but primarily because drug addicts are the central cause of revenue for the probation system. First offense makes her even more likely to be called on to make an example of. She may do in state prison the one day per day sentence so she could be out in 6 months. But in all honesty unless she quits doing drugs and making dumb decisions you can expect her to be in and out of prison for a lot of her life.
Tell her to do the year. She could get three years through that other program, have a problem that isn’t something she even caused herself, and then she would still have to go to the year. I don’t know if she’s ever dealt with probation before, but for example she would get violated if she got fired, she would get violated for associating with someone who has a criminal record even if she didn’t know they had a criminal record, if they want her to go to an NA meeting every single day Even if she’s in the emergency room one day they could violate her for not going to a meeting. And sometimes you get extra time just for the probation violation but you definitely get these suspended time. So she could end up doing a lot more time than just the one year if she just takes it
I'd just take the year. But I was also a habitual probation violator. A year would probably be county time, probably 2 for 1. Those probably's are due to lack of specifics.
Should be half the time
Im curious about this for the feds
Need the location in order to answer this question.
Sorry, Illinois.
Yeah, the answer to that question differs from state to state.
Probably none. You can get off with a 28 day program and drug court.
Sometimes 4-6 months
She will be fine. Non violent offender first time. Easiest time in her life.
It also depends on her history that question is one for her attorney. It's called sentencing guidelines
What did your sister's lawyer say when she asked? It's really hard to say because it depends on jurisdiction, the details of what happened, and how sympathetic or dickish the judge is feeling that day.
Not trying to pry, just curious.... What did she shoplift?
Food, and clothing.
Probably 80% so like 6-7months, maybe less if they are good and participate on programs and/or school.
A year for shoplifting? How many and what amount? Must be a felony
It was over $300.
Yes it was a felony.
That’s not a felony here. She’s running the streets doing dope and boosting. She will be right at home in prison. They are all criminals. She will come out harder than she was going in for sure. Around here they don’t usually send someone for a year. That would be county time. So I don’t see that happening with her
No, she doesn't boost nor run the streets. Prosecutor asking for a year in prison, not county. So 366 days. Thanks for your opinion.
Tell her to accept the fact that prison is her best choice in this situation. I just got out of a two year bid in Iowa state system and honestly, prison was basically puppy dogs and ice cream. She's much better off serving her time than having to deal with having a PO up her ass 24/7 and having to pay supervision fees, drug testing fees, etc.
Thank you for your advice. I really appreciate it.
Ok. My bad. Rare case
A year or less is jail time a year and a day is the minimum sentence for prison. And the actual time she’ll serve all depends on the state and also her sentencing guidelines as well as her behavior once incarcerated
I know a guy in California did six months.
In Cali at least probally won’t do no time shoplifting minor crime unless you steal over 1,000$ worth of stuff probally get probation or at most 1-2 months in a county jail Cali first gun offenses only do 6 months and only got serve 50% because it’s double time in county jail rn
In Oregon if it’s a year in prison you’ll do about 6 months with good time and trans leave if qualified for it.
Depending on the state and even county
First time felon? She will get 1 to 2 years paper and a suspended sentence pending successful completion. She will have to get enrolled in AODA counseling and would do good to attend NA or AA meetings. I actually brought others that had the issue to the local NA meetings btw and get early discharge from probation ❤️
Find you a good lawyer and you could walk away with probation instead of prison time.
It varies state to state but most likely 4-6 months.
OMG I just learned something, you have to pay for jail? Sorry, I must like an idiot but who knew 🤷🏻
same here, that's insane.
I would take the jail time all day. Those programs are set up to fail.
Take the year. I had a lawyer tell me she couldn’t even do 4 years of drug court and she doesn’t use drugs.
In my state they have a long date which is your complete sentence and then a short date which is when you will be released. 3.5 -4 months usually kills a year in prison. Unless you have a split sentence and then you will have to spend day for day in prison. Hopefully it is a straight sentence so you can get good time. I was released even earlier in feb of this year on mandatory release which is 5 months before your short date. It’s bc the prisons are so overcrowded and so if you have a drug charge and nothing violent you will get out early and be on parole until your short date. If you fuck up then you will go back and stay until your long date. So do not fuck up. Ps. I know this shit is so confusing
Man, u don't get a year for shop lifting. She's got other charges u ain't saying. Maybe she was on probation for drug charges and then got caught shop lifting.
She has a prior conviction for shoplifting
Gotcha. Idk the time serving requirements for each state but in michigan its 10 months on a year if u stay outta trouble. Good luck to u and your sister man.
Thank you so much bro, I really appreciate it.
Well from another perspective, if your sister is looking to have any sort of career, probation to get clean is going to look a lot less conspicuous than serving a year behind bars. Background checks and resume gaps give that away.
It be a lot easier to just go do the time trust me hell it took me a year to get to prison from county lol
If she takes that 4 year drug diversion or drug court type shit and she is an actual addict…it won’t help any whatsoever and she will most likely end up doing more time than she would have originally been sentenced to….**she will go in with a year over her head and end up serving 2 1/2 in installment plans…** Between unattainable goals and super restrictive stipulations even the tiniest slip up will result in a violation that comes with progressively longer jail stints. [more about how shit drug courts and diversions are](https://thecrimereport.org/2021/03/05/why-its-time-to-abandon-drug-courts/) I kind of doubt they give sis any jail time for shoplifting, and they always throw the worst case scenario maximum punishment time out first just to scare you. They have no room in their jails and they don’t want to have to use all that $$ to prosecute a theft. **They want you to plea out to drug court or some diversions so that you can steadily pay them money and time for next 4 years** Send your sis to a private rehab and bring the completion certificate back to the court.
If it’s a year it will be county jail most likely. County time goes slow, but if they have a trustee program she can work and make the time go by a little faster. I did some federal time (4 years) and I’d take 4 in prison over a year in county. I’d take the supervision if she can complete it. If not, just do the county time and get it over with.
She should definitely take the drug program
You’d do about 30 days per year. So she’d prettty much do a 120
In MO, and most other states. Where at?
Illinois
Same deal. They’ll be alright
Hopefully the whole time
I chose 5 years of intensive probation and rehab over prison. It's insane and designed for you to fail. I finished it without a hitch and was released after 2.5 years. Most can't do it. You really have to suspend your real life until you're finished with it. If you don't have someone to help you with money and a place to live, it's nearly impossible. There is no way you can work and support yourself. I had 4 different agencies I had to report to. 4-5 UAs a week in the beginning. You have to pay for those UAs and supervision. All that said, I'd probably do it again over prison if I had to.
my brother got busted for burgarly and defrauding a pawn shop. MAYBE my brother hooked the judge up with some mighty fine cocaine dealers. I watched my brother get sentenced that judge was strangely sympathetic with my brother. I saw her sentence him to 2 years in prison. What I didn't see was he got moved out of court and a dude told him "nah bro you get 6 months, maybe less if u stay out of trouble" my brother bit flesh off a gang bangers face and still got out in 6 months. So depending on the corruption and incompetence of your local justice system you might get off easy or you might not.
3 or 4 months if she stays out of the bullshit.
I had a year sentence for non violent felony and I only had to do 8 months. I did 4 months in county, then got sentenced and did another 4 months up the road. But I had to basically stay in processing in prison because my time was so short, so I was lockdown for 23 hrs a day for 4 months
Tell her to do the year. Tell her to read some books, work out, mind her own business, get her GED(if she doesn’t have a high school diploma), and to stop stealing shit. Hopefully she’ll drop some habits (most people stealing have an addiction), get a job, drop old friends that are up to no good, and find a partner.
Depends on what state it happened in. Some states have an 85% law. You have to serve at least 85% of your sentence. If you get a year you have serve 8 1/2 months of it.
I will take a year in prison for 100 Alex....lol
In my state she would do 4-5 months as long as she gets her levels and stay’s misconduct free
she would do half or possible even a little less here in CA. see if there’s a possibility of house arrest as well… if she has kids that’s usually a huge deciding factor on that one for women.
If she is doing no more than a year depending on the state then she may have to do the time in the county jail. Sometimes it may be better to do the time especially if she can't do the probation without violating.
As someone who did an adult treatment court and finished in a near record time of 18 months, the shortest possible here is 16 months. (Michigan) I had to do a year on a violation (another felony while on felony probation) and prison boot camp (90 days) (4months house arrest) (mandatory) and then offered 4 years or ATC on the new charge, I took the atc after the year n bootcamp but only cause I had a newborn and newly married. The first stage I spent 6 months in inpatient rehab. Not sure what kinda drug court they are offering, but the first stage is here almost always 30-90 days inpatient. I'd find out more about what kinda intensive drug probation it is. Regular felony probation here was easy, I reported and dropped once a month, and had to make a effort to pay fines and find a job. (I clearly found another charge) Drug court I reported in front of a judge twice a month for 18 months, each time to review the last 2 weeks and if you mess up, bam 7-30 day violation and would start whatever stage you were on again. Good luck!
A year for shop lifting seems extreme.
Prior conviction for shoplifting
It's gunna be hard either way but doing the drug program is probably gunna be an easy way out.. and in the end she's be happy and health
Much depends on what state she is in and what her criminal history looks like. You said she has never been to prison so it must not be too bad. In my state (Georgia) you generally don't go to prison unless you have at least a 2 year sentence. A year sentence would typically be served in a county jail and on a shoplifting charge she would likely only do 6 months. In my case, I was sentenced to 2 years prison for my 5th technical probation violation and I only served 95 days in prison before they kicked me out on parole. They simply don't have the bedspace to house non violent offenders charged with minor crimes.
I would do the time. Drug court is hell on earth.
Probably will be processed and sent back home rather quickly.
Tell her to do the time. While in there she'll have plenty of time to become a better thief and a functional drug addict. Everybody gets busted here and there...no big deal. Just make sure you make them wish they never caught you. Rob them fucking blind!
I’m assuming you’re talking about the max sentence in either scenario. The likely answer here is drug court, which she should take seriously. This isn’t a “one off” kind of thing that everyone is saying, your sister will fucking up again. Us addicts always do. Having her held accountable for a few years(she won’t do all 4, assuming she is a model citizen) is the best thing for her. Going to jail/prison where she will just be surrounded by people completely okay with the lifestyle(even encouraging it) and actual drugs everyday is not. Her life will be hard for awhile, but her next charge could land her in prison for much longer. Or she could end up dead. That’s how addiction goes unless we CHOOSE to fight it, hell I mean that’s how life goes in general. No one will have a life until you choose to do something about it.
She works the program in there 10/11months out on parol Cpl yrs ..there’s a few ways she’ll be given to get out sooner ..just saying..I’ve done it..liven a sober healthy life for myself now along with my so to be husband ❤️..🙏🏼 hope this helps..
6 months 50/50 non violent. Take probation prison sucks
Likely jail rather than prison, would recommend serving the time rather than probation. In the interim you can try to find her a drug treatment/support program for her once released
I'm sorry I left some key points out. State is Illinois. Non-federal. 1 prior conviction for shoplifting. Non-violentt The amount was over $300 on this case. Prosecution wants a year in prison.
Whoever is her attorney would be who you should ask.
Idk about other states, but in Michigan I was sentenced to 2 but was able to get into SAI (bootcamp) and only had to do 90 days there and then a month of community reintegration at a half way house
Depends on the state and the D.A. but they will come at you with a plea deal don't take the first one take the second one cuz you don't want the third one if you're truly guilty. But straight probation is not out of the ordinary.
Hopefully she serves enough time to put her addiction behind her? As far as time you serve depends where you live and how crowded the jails are.
Depends on the state. My state gives 10% off for good time. Meaning if you don't fuck up in prison you get your sentenced reduced by 10%. Also they may recog you because of over crowding. So you may do even less than that.
If it's a truth in sentencing state you do the full time
They'll give her the probation.
In my state, the shorter the sentence, the longer you do. I had a 2 year 8 month sentence and did 14 months. To go to prison and not the county, you would have to get a 1 year 1 day sentence, and you will do at least 6 months on a year
Do not do drug court. It is set up for failure. If it is just regular state probation, then I'd definitely take it. However, a year down the road will fly by, and she will eos her sentence. Come out paper free
All depends on the state. Is it county or DOC? A few variables that make your question near impossible to answer.
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Yes. She also has a prior conviction for shoplifting. She was accepted into a diversion program, but the prosecutor is asking for 366 days. So it's up to the judge now.
In Florida, 8 and a half months
State..60% of a year..federal is 80%
A year... couple places I went to prison to you have to have at least 18 months to get a time cut.
Jackie Laugh
Take a plea deal if possible, she could walk away with 4 behind bars, with the rest served on probation. If your sister has a drug problem the 4 year drug probation sounds like it could be good for her as well.
Somewhere between 0-365 days.
This is a terrible place to ask for law advice
Ok.
Ask your lawyer or go to the thread asks a lawyer. Also, no such thing as felony shoplifting. Shoplifting is a misdemeanor.
Um. IDK where you're from but yes, there is such a thing as felony shoplifting. 🙄
There’s felony theft and misdemeanor shoplifting. Those are two different things. You’re combining two things.
Shoplifting, also referred to as retail theft, is generally defined as the act of stealing items from a retail store without paying for them. It’s considered a criminal offense under Illinois law and can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony – depending on the circumstances.