Community
Supervision, regularly
referred to as Probation, is
a sanction, an organization,
and a process. As a
sanction, it is the most
widely used punishment
available to courts in
disposing of criminal cases.
As an organization, it is
the infrastructure through
which and by which the
process of community
corrections is
administered/implemented. As
a process, it involves the
utilization of the
“continuum of sanctions”
which is created for
purposes of reducing the
probability that those
offenders who cannot and/or
will not comply with the
sanctions imposed by the
court will not reoffend.
In Texas, as in all other states, community supervision (probation) is a privilege and not a right. An offender is not entitled to community supervision (except where specifically required by statute); thus, it may be denied without possible recourse, and such denial is not appealable. Once given, however, community supervision becomes an entitlement (meaning an offender cannot be revoked without affording him/her certain due process rights).