When CRV Is Worse than Revocation

Some felony probationers ordered to serve a period of confinement in response to violation (CRV) wind up spending more time behind bars than they would have if their probation been revoked. Suppose a probationer has a 5–15 month suspended sentence. Let’s assume he has 30 days of jail credit and he’s already served one 90-day CRV. So, he has 4 months of jail credit under his belt. He is arrested for another violation of probation. Let’s assume he is held in pre-hearing confinement for 30 days awaiting the probation violation hearing, bringing the total jail credit to 5 months. If the violation is a new criminal offense or absconding, the person would be eligible for revocation. If revoked, however, the person would (as discussed here) spend only about one month in prison before being mandatorily released onto post-release supervision. For a Class F–I felon, that release is mandatory on the date of the maximum imposed term less 9 months (in this example, 15 – 9 = 6). G.S. 15A-1368.2(a). But what if the violation is a technical violation? For technical violations (that is, violations other than a new crime or absconding), the court may not revoke. Instead, it may order a 90-day CRV (or a split sentence, or electronic house arrest, or any other modification aside from revocation). If the court orders a CRV, it is prohibited from crediting any of the defendant’s accumulated jail credit to the 90-day term of confinement. G.S. 15A-1344(d2) (“The 90-day term of confinement ordered under [...]