Defined in Article I, the purpose of the compact is:
to provide the framework for the promotion of public safety and protect the rights of victims through the control and regulation of the interstate movement of offenders in the community; to provide for the effective tracking, supervision, and rehabilitation of these offenders by the sending and receiving state; and to equitably distribute the costs, benefits, and obligations of the Compact among the Compacting states.
The absence of a supervised person’s right to reside or be supervised outside the sentencing jurisdiction (see § 1.3 infra) has important implications for managing the interstate placement and return of supervised individuals. Sending and receiving states retain broad discretion in determining both transfer and return. The ICAOS manages that discretion.
The ICAOS provides the exclusive framework governing interstate supervision of individuals subject to conditional release or community supervision. Accordingly, it controls decisions regarding where such individuals may reside under supervision, as well as their return to the sending state. See Goe v. Comm’r of Prob., 46 N.E.3d 997, 1002 (Mass. 2016) (“The compact is the exclusive means to transfer supervision from one State to another” (citing ICAOS Rule 2.110(a))).
The intent of the ICAOS is not to dictate judicial sentencing or place restrictions on the court’s discretion relative to sentencing. See Scott v. Commonwealth, 676 S.E.2d 343, 347 (Va. Ct. App. 2009). The ICAOS contains no provisions directing judges on sentencing in particular cases and it does not alter individual state sentencing laws, although the ICAOS may alter how those laws affect transfer decisions under the compact. See, e.g., ICAOS Advisory Opinion 6-2005 (deferred prosecution) & ICAOS Advisory Opinion 7-2006 (second offense DUI). The ICAOS only comes into play when a supervised individual seeks to transfer their supervision to another state.
If part of complying with a judge’s sentence would require or permit travel or relocation to another state, the rules of the ICAOS may apply. When applicable, those rules would be binding on state officials in both the sending and receiving states.
Similar to its application relative to the courts, the ICAOS does not govern the underlying decisions of a parole board, except when those decisions involve travel or relocation to another state. If the parole board authorizes such travel or relocation, the ICAOS rules apply and guide the actions of officials in both states. However, the ICAOS does not regulate the transfer of incarcerated individuals to serve their confinement in another state; such transfers may be governed by the Interstate Corrections Compact, the Western Interstate Corrections Compact, or the New England Interstate Corrections Compact.
PRACTICE NOTE