2020 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 3 - Community Supervision and Transition
Article 1 - Board of Community Supervision; Department of Community Supervision
§ 42-3-3. Department of Community Supervision Created; Responsibilities

1. There is created the Department of Community Supervision. DCS shall be the agency primarily responsible for:
   1. Supervision of all defendants who receive a felony sentence of straight probation;
   2. Supervision of all defendants who receive a split sentence;
   3. Supervision of all defendants placed on parole or other conditional release from imprisonment by the State Board of Pardons and Paroles;
   4. Supervision of juvenile offenders released from restrictive custody due to an adjudication for a Class A designated felony act or Class B designated felony act, as such terms are defined in Code Section 15-11-2, except as otherwise provided by the rules and regulations of the Board of Juvenile Justice governing such supervision;
   5. Administration of laws, rules, and regulations relating to probation and parole supervision, as provided for by law;
   6. Enforcement of laws, rules, and regulations relating to probation and parole supervision, as provided for by law;
   7. Administration of laws as provided in this chapter and Chapters 8 and 9 of this title;
   8. Regulating entities and individuals that provide probation supervision services pursuant to Article 6 of Chapter 8 of this title;
   9. Reviewing the uniform professional standards for private probation officers and uniform contract standards for private probation contracts established in Code Section 42-8-107 and submit a report with its recommendations to the board. DCS shall submit its initial report on or before January 1, 2018, and shall continue such reviews every two years thereafter. Such report shall provide information which will allow the board to review the effectiveness of the uniform professional standards and uniform contract standards and, if necessary, to revise such standards;
   10. Producing an annual summary report; and
   11. Administering laws, rules, and regulations relating to misdemeanor probation supervision pursuant to Article 6 of Chapter 8 of this title.
2. DCS shall ensure that community supervision officers who supervise juvenile offenders receive the same training to work specifically with children and adolescents as is provided for Department of Juvenile Justice probation officers. DCS shall offer the same array of services to juvenile offenders as are available to offenders who are committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice who are not placed in restrictive custody. With respect to the supervision of children, DCS shall be mindful of the purpose of Chapter 11 of Title 15 as set forth in Code Section 15-11-1.

(Code 1981, §42-3-3, enacted by Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 1-1/HB 310; Ga. L. 2016, p. 443, § 5-2/SB 367.)

The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, near the beginning of paragraph (a)(4), substituted "released from" for "when such offender had been placed in" and at the end substituted "except as otherwise provided by the rules and regulations of the Board of Juvenile Justice governing such supervision" for "and is released from such custody"; deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (a)(6); substituted "and Chapters 8 and 9 of this title" for a period at the end of paragraph (a)(7); and added paragraphs (a)(8) through (a)(11).

- For article on the 2016 amendment of this Code section, see 33 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 139 (2016).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Search at probation/parole facility.

- Motion to suppress marijuana found in the defendant's wallet during a search at a probation facility was properly denied because the searches at the facility served a legitimate governmental interest in protecting against violence and the defendant's expectation of privacy was diminished by warning signs and the defendant's status as a convicted offender reporting to a probation appointment. Day v. State, 350 Ga. App. 328, 829 S.E.2d 418 (2019).