by Allie Rasmus
Hundreds of people fulfill their community service requirement at Goodwill
every month. More than 300 of them are on probation, as part of Travis County's adult probation system.
"We rely heavily on our volunteer workforce," Malcomb Gardner of Goodwill
said.
Community service is a requirement for many convicted criminals and
can be ordered in lieu of jail time or immediately following it.
Once finished with prison, they continue to be supervised by the courts,
in some cases for up to 10 years. During that time, they have to give back to the community.
"We give them an opportunity to work off those hours," Gardner said.
"It's a good labor pool."
Lawmakers passed HB 2193 this session. The bill could cut down that labor
pool for nonprofits.
"This session the legislature changed the law on third-degree felonies
and said that the maximum someone can be [initially] placed on probation is five years - cuts it in half," Rep. Terry Keel,
R-Austin, said. The probation changes would not apply to third-degree felony convictions for certain violent crimes and sex
crimes including any conviction requiring registration as a sex offender. Additionally, judges could extend probation at the
end of five years for as much as an additional five years back to a total of 10 years.
Also, community service time would not longer be manditory but instead
required at the discretion of the judge.
Some nonprofit groups around Central Texas worry that these changes will
mean less time spent working on behalf of their organizations.
"We could lose potentially 20 to 30 percent of our volunteer hours,"
Gardner said.
In 2004, more than 9,500 probationers in Travis County did community service for a total of 500,000 hours.
That was worth $2.5 million to the community.
Nonprofits aren't the only groups who may be affected. Keel said the
bill raises safety issues.
"There may be real good reasons to keep somebody on third-degree felony
probation for arson, or kidnapping or assault and family violence for a lengthy supervision," he said.
The bill's authors say the changes are needed to help streamline
the state's probation system and save tax dollars. In Travis County, there are 130 probation officers and more than 11,000
people on direct supervision.
Ann del Lano, an attorney for the ACLU and a member of the Austin/Travis
County Reentry Round Table Planning Council, favors the changes. She said that it isn't clear that a change in the initial
probation terms will have any impact on the number of community service hours to be worked at nonprofits. She said that judges
would have more latitude in setting probations and community service requirements based on individual situations and will
have expanded drug treatment options for probationers under the bill as well.
If signed, the bill would be retroactive, which means as many as 7,000
people in Travis County, along with 30,000 probationers, could see their supervision time reduced.
