Does a probation officer have the authority to order that a defendant must pay restitution to the victim of a crime committed while on probation?

Furthermore, the authority to "impose and require" reasonable conditions of probation "for the reformation and rehabilitation of the probationer" rests with the trial court. ( 1203.1, subd. (j).) The court in turn "has authority to empower the probation department with authority to supervise the probation conditions." (People v. Kwizera (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 1238, 1240, citing 1202.8 & 1203.) But a court order that in effect delegates discretion to a probation officer to determine the nature or scope of the probation condition exceeds this statutory authority and risks being unconstitutional.

Thus in People v. Cervantes (1984) 154 Cal.App.3d 353, the court rejected a trial court order requiring the defendant to pay restitution "in an amount and manner to be determined by the probation officer." (Id. at p. 355.) The court emphasized that prescribing the conditions of probation, including restitution to the victim, was "essentially [a] judicial function[]." (Id. at p. 358.) Directing the probation officer to decide the amount and manner of restitution exceeded the court's statutory powers because it granted the officer "unlimited discretion . . . to determine the propriety, amount, and manner of payment of restitution." (Ibid.)

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