Probation Violations in North Carolina, Second Edition, 2025

Probation Violations in North Carolina sets out the law applicable to state probation violation hearings. A probation violation hearing is less formal than a criminal trial, but it still requires certain procedures as a matter of state statute and constitutional due process. 

In 2011, the General Assembly passed the Justice Reinvestment Act, making major changes to the law of sentencing and probation. The revised law placed substantial limitations on a judge’s authority to revoke probation for violations other than a new criminal offense or absconding. Subsequent appellate litigation, discussed in this book, has resolved many of the questions that were unanswered at the time of the law’s enactment. 

The law and procedures discussed in this book apply to supervised and unsupervised probation alike and to cases sentenced under both Structured Sentencing and the state impaired driving law.