[kiryandil]

I was talking to a guy a couple of weeks ago, and he clued me in on the newest Crimnel Jesters scam in my state:

Deferred sentencing/deferred adjudication for drug offenses.

Basically, it's probation, and the charges get dismissed if you're a good little doobie for The State during the time of your "probation".

Sounds all well and good on the face of it, BUT!

Here's the rest of the story:

Officer Friendly stops you, and finds a pill bottle or couple of pills rattling around on your person, or in the car?

In the bad old days, before deferred adjudiction, it was a trifle, and was generally ignored. Hey, it's just a single little pill!

Now, it's a BIG FAT JUICY PORTERHOUSE for the Great Big Giant Large Criminal Justice Machine.

You see, there's all sorts of COSTS associated with the "adjudication" [read: shakedown] wherein The State cleans up financially. OR they hit you with the Big Felony Stick.

So that means the mark is just BEGGING for the deferment/adjudication. Please, please, judge - sodomize me financially!

So, to sum up - that means, one pill - you'd better have a current valid prescription for it ON YOUR PERSON.

If the pill "accidentally" falls into your car whilst you're not watching? Tough rocks, peasant.

YEW BROKE DA LORE!!!

[MeganC]

If you’re on probation then don’t screw up. That’s the point of probation is to give you a chance to redeem yourself or to give you a second chance to screw up.

Choose wisely.

[Ghost of SVR4]

Yup, thats the big thing in PA now, ARD. You still pay restitution for whatever you did (or got railroaded for) but they will dangle ARD (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition) in front of you and will wipe your record (but not the ARD) clean after 12 months. ARD costs on top of the restitution, court fee’s, etc...Some counties, as soon as you have done your course (usually just a couple days long), paid your fine and completed community service, your record is cleaned and your on your way (quite literally in a matter of weeks). Other counties like having you in the system and will make supervision/probation last an entire year. This is going on for non-violent “crimes” all over western PA. I talked to one cop (decent guy btw) who said it is getting so far out of control with hard ass cops that the state/county is literally creating criminals out of thin air; could be your neighbor in up-scale suburbia or a manager at work. Maybe even a teacher at the local school. They claim it is a way for people who just made a mistake to clean up their act and record but with the young cops of today with aspirations of being a DA one day its wrecking peoples lives.

[PeterPrinciple]

Officer Friendly stops you

---

Unfortunately if he finds a pill and gives you a warning and you go down the road and cause an accident or kill someone who will be responsible? Not you, the officer who let you go with a warning will be. If you were the officer, you would do the same......................

[Lazamataz]

so that means the mark is just BEGGING for the deferment/adjudication. Please, please, judge - sodomize me financially!

I've heard that about Georgia. When I was briefly jailed for my various indiscretions, my fellow detainees strongly warned me against taking First Offender status.