SPECIAL COURTS WILL HANDLE FELONS' PROBATION VIOLATIONS

The city and state will create new courts in all five boroughs to issue
stricter and speedier sentences to felons who violate their probation,
officials said yesterday.

The plan, announced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Chief Judge Judith S.
Kaye of the State Court of Appeals at a news conference at Queens Family
Court, will place all felony probation violation cases before one judge in
each borough. The change, the officials said, will let the judges monitor
the cases more closely and issue stricter sentences for felons who violate
probation. Those offenders in the past have fallen through the cracks in
the justice system, officials said.

The new courts represent an expansion of Operation Spotlight, a program
that began last year and focused on people who are repeatedly arrested on
misdemeanor charges.

"Our administration's approach to fighting crime puts emphasis on problem
people and problem places," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Probation violators are
problem people."

Previously, probation violators were brought before the judges who handed
down their original sentences and hearings were often delayed, with nearly
half of all such cases taking more than six months to complete, officials
said, adding that violators often evaded penalties.

Mr. Bloomberg said that consolidating the cases in one court in each
borough would help cut delays and "send these offenders a very clear
message that their actions - and inactions - have consequences."

There are about 80,000 people on probation in the city. All have been
convicted of crimes, but in lieu of jail time were sentenced to Probation
Department supervision with varying conditions, from paying restitution to
their victims and performing community service to participating in drug
treatment programs. In an average year, about 7,000 felons are cited for
probation violations.

In 2001, more than 2,300 of those who had already been cited for violations
had been arrested three or more times since being placed on probation,
officials said.

The special courts have begun hearing cases in Brooklyn and the Bronx and
will start in Queens this month, and later in Manhattan and Staten Island,
officials said.