owERi To SUSPEND SENTENCE WIrHouT PROBATION For the most part, probation law in the United

States today derives from statutes which authorize trial judges to grant convicted persons a period of
probation under supervision. Like the federal courts, most state courts do not recognize an inherent
common law power to suspend either the imposition or execution of sentence;' 0 a few state courts,
however, do recognize such a power." It is interesting to note, too, that New York and Texas have
statutes which allow suspended sentence without probation," in addition to statutes authorizing
probation. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that the two statutes are unrelated, and that
the trial judge has an option to use either statute in a particular case." In practical effect, both common
law and statutory suspension of sentence without probation circumvent the techniques of probation
and the aim of supervised rehabilitation. It is submitted that the federal and majority of states' practice
of limiting suspension of sentence to that authorized under the probation statutes is more in line with
sound correctional theory. STATUTORY PROBATION IN TH