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The Piper Law Firm
8350 Wilshire Blvd.
Suite #200
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Phone
323.556.0766
Sentencing & Jail
A lot of laweyrs try to scare people into hiring their services by telling them they will go to jail. Informing someone of the maximum punishment is something that a good attorney should do, but not as a method to try and convince someone to hire him or her. We at The Piper Law Firm will do everything we can to avoid a jail sentence for our clients.
Without your freedom, you have nothing.
There are many alternatives available to jail. There is probation, community service, CALTRANS clean up, beach clean up, private or city jails and many other types of diversion programs. A whole host of possibilities exist in most cases. There are often numerous creative solutions to avoid a sentence that involves incarceration. We work with you, the Probation Department and the Courts to try and find a solution that keeps you free and working.
For a lot of first time offenders, we are able to have the sentence be probation. In the California state courts, probation can be formal or informal. Formal probation requires periodic reporting to a probation officer. The period of reporting could be weekly, monthly, annually, or in some cases, daily. Informal probation does not require any reporting to the probation officer at all.. In the federal system, all probation is formal.
Those first time offenders who do receive a sentence of incarceration, often spend the period of incarceration in the county jail. With a County Jail sentence, there often comes an opportunity for various programs that avoid a straight period of incarceration. Programs such as work furlough, private jail or city jail, allow a person to keep their job while serving their sentence at night or on the weekends. Other people qualify for house arrest or home confinement.
When it comes to incarceration, the first thing is to recognize a distinction between prison and jail. State prison is a facility operated by the State. In California, the agency primarily responsible for maintaining the prisons is the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Generally, people are only sent here if they receive a sentence of confinement which is more than one year. California’s prisons are scattered throughout the state. Some of the most notorious prisons in the country are in California. Facilities like Pelican Bay, San Quentin and Folsom have nationwide reputations.
The jails are primarily operated by the local Sheriff’s Department. People who are in jail are either a convicted offender serving less than one year, or someone who is waiting for their case to be resolved in the court system. Each county jail has its own set of rules and its own conditions placed upon persons housed there. The rules and procedures in Los Angeles County differ from the rules in Ventura County, which differ from the rules in Orange County. Each jail has its own unique procedures and problems.
There are many possibilities that could help you avoid jail. Until a qualified attorney evaluates the case, you do not know what possibilities are open to you. Call The Piper Law Firm for a consultation to see if there is an alternative available in your case.
Call us we can help you avoid jail.