Have You Seen Any Probation Volunteers Lately?

While generally a good court, every once and a while the Court of Appeals in Colorado shows just how deeply out of touch it is with reality (and the same applies to trial judge Thomas Kennedy, in Teller County, whose order was affirmed). The Colorado Appeals Blog has the scoop on one such recent case where the court held that:

Remedial costs that have been advanced for probation need not be refunded if the conviction that led to the probation is vacated. The court concluded that because the purpose of probation is primarily rehabilitative, and because defendant could have benefited from the supervisory services she received and paid for, the trial court did not err in denying her motion for a refund of the probation supervision fee.

The full text of the case is here.

I will agree with the Court of Appeals when I starting seeing people who are not facing criminal charges or similar threats of punishment voluntarily sign up to be supervised by a probation officer in exchange for $630. Imagine, we could have a new revenue stream for Colorado from all those voluntary probationers the Court of Appeals thinks are waiting in the wings.

Even this would really be too little. We should owe acquitted defendants not only the costs that they have incurred, but their attorneys fees, and I believe that a handful of states may actually have this rule.