Which decisions are enforced through the probation system
The enforcement of non-custodial sentences in Georgia is governed by a dedicated law on the enforcement of non-custodial penalties and probation. It establishes the procedure according to which legal acts imposing non-custodial penalties on a convicted person, and the decisions connected with them, are carried out. The following categories of acts are subject to enforcement under the procedure established by this law:
- acts on deprivation of the right to hold a position or to carry on an activity as a penalty;
- acts on deprivation of a legal entity's right to carry on an activity as a penalty;
- acts on the assignment of community service as a penalty;
- acts on the assignment of corrective labour as a penalty;
- acts on the imposition of a conditional sentence;
- acts on conditional early release from serving the sentence;
- acts on the deferral of the serving of the sentence.
In practical terms, this means that once a court decision enters into legal force, its enforcement does not pass to a penitentiary institution but to the probation system: the act is registered at a bureau, an enforcement file is opened concerning the convicted person, and that person's conduct comes under the supervision of a probation officer. If you are a convicted person, it is precisely this law that determines who registers the act, what kind of file is opened about you, what is recorded in protocols, and when the enforcement is considered complete.
The Probation Department and the probation bureaus
Enforcement of the legal acts defined by this law is ensured by the Non-Custodial Sentences Enforcement and Probation Department of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and by the ministry's territorial bodies — the non-custodial sentences enforcement and probation bureaus. The department is a structural subdivision of the Ministry of Justice, and its powers are defined by a regulation approved by the Minister of Justice of Georgia.
For the purpose of enforcement, a legal act is transferred to a probation bureau. The bureau is headed by the chief officer for the enforcement of non-custodial sentences and probation — the chief of the probation bureau — who must have higher legal education and is appointed to, and dismissed from, the office by the Minister of Justice from among the probation officers. It is the bureau chief who registers the incoming act, distributes it among the officers and manages communication with the court.
Registration of the enforceable act and its interpretation
The chief of the probation bureau registers each enforceable legal act in a special registration journal. The journal records:
- the registration number of the legal act and the date of its arrival at the bureau;
- the type of the act, the name of the body that issued it, and the date on which it entered into force;
- a short summary of the operative part of the act;
- the convicted person's details — name, surname, date and place of birth, place of residence, family status, place of work or place of study, and, for a legal entity, its name and legal address;
- the provision of the Criminal Code on the basis of which the enforceable act was adopted;
- the probation officer to whom the act was transferred for enforcement, and that officer's signature;
- information about submissions and the date of completion of the enforcement proceedings.
If an enforceable act issued by a court is ambiguous or contains some inaccuracy, the bureau chief applies to the court with a request for the interpretation of the unclear or imprecise part of the act. This guarantee protects the convicted person from enforcement being commenced on the basis of an imprecisely understood decision.
The enforcement file and its contents
After each legal act is accepted into the enforcement proceedings, an enforcement file is opened. Its serial number must correspond to the registration number given to the enforceable act in the registration journal. The file must also carry a code reflecting the sequence of the file within the probation officer's own proceedings; for this purpose the officer maintains an appropriate journal observing the same requirements as apply to the registration journal. This numbering discipline reduces the likelihood of error and makes the file easier to trace.
The enforcement file contains:
- the enforceable legal act;
- the data about the convicted person contained in the registration journal and that person's photograph;
- protocols on the measures carried out by the probation officer;
- copies of the notices sent to the court;
- the officer's report card addressed to the chief of the probation bureau on the expediency of an application to the court;
- a copy of the bureau chief's submission to the court;
- other documents drawn up in the course of the enforcement proceedings;
- the duties imposed on the convicted person by the legal act, together with the requirements established by the probation officer, in accordance with the legislation in force, for the purpose of controlling their fulfilment.
The protocol, the report card and the submission
In the course of carrying out enforcement actions, the probation officer draws up a protocol, which must contain the place and date of its drawing up, the name of the legal act for the enforcement of which it was drawn up, the name of the officer who drew it up, the details of the persons present, and the content of the enforcement action. The protocol documents each step of the enforcement and forms the working core of the file.
Where the probation officer considers that a ground defined by law exists for an application to the court, the officer writes a report card addressed to the bureau chief. The card must indicate the number of the enforcement file, the enforceable legal act, brief information about the enforcement actions, information about the notification of the court of the convicted person's non-fulfilment of an imposed duty — where such exists — the officer's personal opinion on the expediency of the submission, and the officer's signature, stamp and the date on which the card was submitted.
The submission sent to the court must indicate the name of the legal act in the enforcement of which the need for the application arose, data about the convicted person and the duties imposed by the court, information about the convicted person's conduct, the reason for the application, and the content of the submission.
Completion of the proceedings and supervision
The moment at which the enforcement proceedings are completed depends on the type of penalty. In the case of deprivation of the right to hold a position or to carry on an activity, the proceedings end when the period determined by the court, during which the person was prohibited from holding the position or carrying on the activity, expires, and also upon release from the serving of this penalty. In the case of community service and corrective labour, the proceedings end upon the complete serving of the sentence, upon the replacement of this penalty by another type of penalty, and upon release from its serving.
Where a conditional sentence has been imposed, the proceedings end upon the expiry of the probation period determined by the court, upon the revocation of the conditional sentence together with the lifting of the conviction, and also upon the adoption of an act under which the conditional sentence is revoked and the penalty appointed by the verdict must be served. Where the convicted person has been conditionally released before the end of the term, the proceedings end upon the expiry of the term of the unserved part of the sentence, or upon the adoption of an act revoking the conditional early release and requiring the serving of the unserved part.
Where the serving of a sentence has been deferred for a pregnant woman or for a woman who has a child under five years of age, the proceedings end after the expiry of the period for which the court deferred the enforcement of the sentence, and the probation officer notifies the court of the expiry of that period. Where the deferral is revoked, the convicted person is sent to serve the sentence at the place appointed by the verdict. If an enforceable act that has entered into legal force is annulled, or the convicted person dies, the enforcement proceedings are discontinued. After completion, the enforcement file is stored in the manner prescribed by the legislation.
Supervisory control over the enforcement of the legal acts defined by this law is exercised, as provided by law, by the Probation Department. This means that the work of the bureaus is monitored by a higher body, which responds in the cases provided for by law.