Parole

• People convicted of felonies are frequently released before a sentence is complete. An early release or parole is a conditional freedom. Essentially, the jurisdiction (state, federal or municipal government) is agreeing to let the felon free, so long as he behaves well. A key feature of parole is, if a parolee doesn't behave well, a new trial isn't required to return him to jail or prison. She can be forced to return based upon the conditions of her parole. Americans are innocent until proven guilty. But, a parolee has already been found guilty of another crime and may be required to serve out his full sentence due to being arrested, because an arrest -- not necessarily a conviction -- can be a violation of the terms of parole.
  
  

Probation

• Probation is very similar to parole. The primary difference is timing. Parole is a provisional freedom granted to an inmate prior to the completion of her sentence. Probation is usually the suspension of a sentence conditional on a period of good behavior. Probation happens before someone is sent to jail or prison. It may be granted in lieu of a trial. Violating terms of probation might invoke the trial for a separate criminal act. Parole and probation are sometimes used interchangeably. In either case, if the person cited is driving under either kind of provisional freedom, the citation in itself may invoke a return to jail for a previous criminal act or a return to court to face previous criminal charges.
  
  

Treatment of Felons

• It is difficult to quantify the ways in which convicted felons are treated differently by law enforcement and prosecutors than someone without a criminal record. So long as a person doesn't have provisional freedom due to a pending criminal act, probation or parole, she should be treated the same. Culpability for one crime does not equal culpability for another. However, police officers are able to access criminal records very quickly -- usually onsite while they have someone pulled over or at a traffic stop. They also have significant autonomy to triage what violations to cite and which ones to ignore. If law enforcement officers know that someone has a felony conviction, in order to avoid prejudicial treatment, it means each and every one of them would have to be completely unbiased in every single instance. Thus, it's difficult for some to believe the knowledge of a felony conviction doesn't invoke harsher treatment.
  
  

Traffic Court and Crime

• Traffic violations are an important function in the identification, arrest and subsequent prosecution of all varieties of crimes. For a police officer to make a stop, civil hold or arrest, he must have a reason. She must have probably cause that a law is being broken. Otherwise, it is difficult for law enforcement to have the opportunity to talk to or ask questions of a citizen, because citizens are generally not obligated to talk to police officers. However, if the citizen is driving a car and commits any violation from failing to have an illuminated license plate to failing to signal with the proper amount of advance warning, an officer has the right to stop him. Once stopped, the officer has the right to demand identification. Once identification is given, the officer can gain information about past criminal convictions before she issues a citations or makes arrests. Anyone who has a felony conviction would be well advised to understand that officers are likely to have the autonomy to make a decision influenced by previous convictions and to be very respectful of the officer's authority to do so.