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1. What is deferred adjudication?

A type of community supervision. If the conditions of supervision are met for the time period set by the court the charge will be dismissed and no record of conviction is made. However, the records of the arrest, prosecution and community supervision are not expunged as a result of the dismissal.

2. What is SAFPF?

An intensive six-month therapeutic community program (nine-month program for offenders with special needs) for offenders who are sentenced by a judge as a condition of community supervision or as a modification of parole/community supervision. The program consists of Phase I (Orientation), a comprehensive assessment and orientation of the Therapeutic Community; Phase II (Main Treatment), which includes education, skills training, offender lifestyle confrontation, family dynamics, and peer support groups; and Phase III (Re-Entry), the education of offenders in the development of social skills and the recognition of the triggers of relapse. Upon completion of the SAFPF program, offenders are placed in a community residential facility/Transitional Treatment Center for three months, followed by outpatient treatment for up to twelve additional months. The aftercare phase administers a diverse range of therapeutic, residential, outpatient, and resource programs. The Special Needs program provides educational components that address Axis I mental disorders as well as personality disorders, medication regimentation, and the interaction of disorders with substances of abuse.

3. How does probation differ from parole?

Offenders on community supervision serve their sentences in the community. They are sentenced by local county-courts-at-law and district judges. Offenders are eligible for parole after they are released from prison. The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (Volume 4, Section 509.003, Standards and Procedures) defines parole and community supervision this way: Community Supervision: The supervised release of a convicted defendant by a court under a continuum of programs and sanctions with conditions imposed by the court for a specific period during which the imposition of a sentence is suspended: A) criminal proceedings are deferred without judgment of guilt, or B) a sentence of imprisonment or confinement, imprisonment and a fine, or confinement and a fine, is probated and the imposition of sentence is suspended in whole or in part. Parole: Parole means the conditional release of an eligible prisoner from the physical custody of the Correctional Institutions Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to serve the remainder of the sentence under the supervision and control of the board.