An Act relative to probation violations

This bill amends Massachusetts law to give judges more flexibility when handling people who break the rules of their probation. Instead of immediately revoking probation and forcing someone to serve their full prison sentence, a judge can choose to keep the person on probation while possibly changing the terms or length. Alternatively, the judge may revoke probation and send the individual to an intermediate sanctions program or order them to serve part or all of their suspended sentence. The change directly affects defendants in the criminal justice system and the courts that oversee their cases.