Deeper Thoughts on the Constitutionality of Quick Dips

Under the Justice Reinvestment Act, a probation officer may, through delegated authority, impose a short period of jail confinement in response to a violation of a court-imposed probation condition. The officer may impose up to six days of confinement per month during any three separate months of a period of probation. The time must be served in the local jail in 2-day or 3-day increments. G.S. 15A-1343.2(e) and (f). As of the end of September, three quick dips had been imposed statewide. That’s surprisingly low, but I think several factors conspire to keep the numbers down. First, probation officers only have authority to impose quick dips for offenders on probation for offenses committed on or after December 1, 2011. S.L. 2011-192, sec. 1(l). Those offenders are just now starting to come onto probation in large numbers. Second, even for statutorily eligible offenders, the Division of Adult Correction delayed use of quick dips until July 2, 2012, to allow for policy development and training. Third, quick dip authority applies only in Structured Sentencing cases; it is not an option for DWI probationers. G.S. 15A-1343.2(a) (“This section applies only to persons sentenced under Article 81B [Structured Sentencing] of this Chapter.”) And fourth, Community Corrections has chosen as a matter of policy to use quick dip authority only in cases involving relatively serious violations by Supervision Level 1 and 2 offenders—the highest risk, highest need probationers, as described in this prior post. Another reason quick dip usage may be limited is that judges are [...]