When Act 44 of 2023 was originally signed into law, it was intended to fix the Commonwealth’s broken probation system. Probation is supposed to be a pathway out of the criminal justice system but in reality, it had been serving as a pipeline feeding into our prisons, and technical violations were a big part of the issue. For decades, technical violations—like missing check-ins or traveling without permission—triggered resentencing hearings, often resulting in excessive extensions of probation or prison time that far exceeded the original sentence. Act 44, the Probation Reform Act, was intended to put an end to that practice.

Act 44 placed strict limits on when a judge could impose a prison sentence for a technical violation, capped how long this sentence could be, and implemented a graduated sentencing scheme to reflect a recidivist philosophy. Under this scheme, a first technical violation could be punished by up to 14 days in jail, a second violation could be punished by up to 30 days in jail and only after the third technical violation would a court be permitted to completely resentence the probationer. This was supposed to fundamentally change how technical violations are handled in our courts. However, some are unfortunately reading the Act as allowing for the “stacking” of multiple technical violations, an interpretation which essentially returns us to “business as usual” as it was prior to the passage of the Act. 

While this plays out in our courts, I will be introducing legislation to emphasize the recidivist logic of Act 44. This statutory scheme was intended to increase punishment only after the individual receives a warning to stop and reform his behavior. A strike must be followed by an opportunity to reform. Please join me in co-sponsoring this necessary, clarifying legislation.