Fifteen years after the passage Proposition 215, the San Diego County Probation Department is just now adopting a set of rules on how they will handle sentencing recommendations for medical marijuana patients who have felony probation matters. The Probation Department, of course, makes written recommendations to felony sentencing judges on “You May Be Allowed to Smoke Marijuana While on Felony Probation”
Modification of Probation
Probation is the suspension of the imposition or execution of a sentence, where an individual is conditionally released from custody under the supervision of a probation officer or the court. Probation is generally reserved for those individuals whose conditional release into society poses minimal risk to public safety. In order “Modification of Probation”
California Courts Disagree on Lengthy Prison Terms for Juveniles
Last year, the United States Supreme Court held in a deeply divided opinion that a sentence of life imprisonment without parole (LWOP) for any juvenile offender who did not commit a homicide was unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court, however, “California Courts Disagree on Lengthy Prison Terms for Juveniles”
Life Imprisonment without Parole is illegal in Non-Murder Juvenile Matters
The United States Supreme Court in a deeply divided opinion reversed a conviction of a 16-year old minor who was sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) for a non-homicide Florida offense of home invasion robbery. In Graham v. Florida, the court held that a sentence of LWOP for any juvenile “Life Imprisonment without Parole is illegal in Non-Murder Juvenile Matters”
Changes to Clearing a Criminal Record
California law has long provided a way to expunge certain criminal convictions for those individuals who are off probation and are not serving a sentence for any other offense. Unfortunately, the California legislature has started to chip away at the right to expunge a criminal record, now providing that qualifying individuals for certain crimes “Changes to Clearing a Criminal Record”