When a person is convicted of an offense, other than a capital offense or having been
designated a violent offender as defined in KRS 439.3401, the court, where authorized by
KRS Chapter 533 and where not prohibited by other provisions of applicable law, may
sentence such person to a period of probation or to a period of conditional discharge as
provided in that chapter. A sentence to probation or conditional discharge shall be
deemed a tentative one to the extent that it may be altered or revoked in accordance with
KRS Chapter 533, but for purposes of appeal shall be deemed to be a final judgment of
conviction. In any case where the court imposes a sentence of probation or conditional
discharge, it may also impose a fine as authorized by KRS Chapter 534.
Effective: July 14, 2000
History: Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 401, sec. 7, effective July 14, 2000. -- Amended
1984 Ky. Acts ch. 382, sec. 22, effective July 13, 1984. -- Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch.
406, sec. 276, effective January 1, 1975.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
12
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1980–2025 · leading case:
Commonwealth v. Tiryung, 709 S.W.2d 454 (Ky. 1986).
Commonwealth v. Tiryung, 709 S.W.2d 454 (Ky. 1986).
· cites it 8× “030, styled “Authorized dispositions — generally,” and KRS 532.040, styled “Probation and conditional discharge.”
Commonwealth v. Reneer, 734 S.W.2d 794 (Ky. 1987).
· cites it 2× “050; KRS 532.040; KRS 532.070. "The report shall be prepared and presented by a probation officer and shall include an analysis of the defendant's history of delinquency or criminality, physical and mental condition, family situation and background, economic status, education,…”
Commonwealth v. Nicely, 326 S.W.3d 441 (Ky. 2010).
· cites it 4× “" KRS 532.040. In such cases, the trial court is actually sentencing the defendant to probation with conditions, as evidenced by the statutes' repeated use of the language "a sentence of probation.”
Goldsmith v. Commonwealth, 363 S.W.3d 330 (Ky. 2012).
“See KRS 532.040 (“A sentence to probation or conditional discharge shall be deemed a tentative one to the extent that it may be altered or revoked in accordance with KRS Chapter 533, but for purposes of appeal shall be deemed to be a final judgment of conviction.”
Jackson v. Commonwealth, 319 S.W.3d 343 (Ky. 2010).
“040 provides, “A sentence to probation or conditional discharge shall be deemed a tentative one to the extent that it may be altered or revoked in accordance with KRS Chapter 533, but for purposes of appeal shall be deemed to be a final judgment of conviction.”
Cole v. Commonwealth, 609 S.W.2d 371 (Ky. Ct. App. 1980).
“KRS 532.040 states: 532.040 Probation and conditional discharge- When a person is convicted of an offense, other than a capital offense, the court, where authorized by KRS Chapter 533, may sentence such person to a period of probation or to a period of conditional discharge as…”
Hamilton v. Commonwealth, 754 S.W.2d 870 (Ky. Ct. App. 1988).
“allows the use of convictions under which a defendant was probated or conditionally discharged; under those sentencing alternatives, the defendant serves no term of imprisonment, and is not exposed to any “institutional rehabilitative effort.”
Jt Higgins v. Commonwealth of Kentucky (Ky. Ct. App. 2025).
“On the other hand, KRS 532.040 is permissive. It permits a court to “sentence such person to a period of probation or to a period of conditional discharge as provided” by KRS Chapter 533.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.