Supervision is a sentence that comes after a guilty plea or a finding of guilty. It is better than probation, and certainly better than jail.
What it means is there is a finding of guilt, but no conviction enters. If you complete the period of supervision without violating the terms, then no conviction ever enters.
This DOES NOT MEAN the record of your case goes away. It does not mean the charges were dropped. In some cases, after a waiting period after your supervision is over, you may be eligible to expunge your record. Only then will your record be clean. Expungement never happens automatically, you must expunge it.
It means there's no conviction. On applications, if it asks if you've been convicted of a crime, you could possibly say no (provided you completed supervision without violating it and have no other cases.)
This is important in DUI cases where a conviction for DUI would revoke your driver's license. But supervision would not.
When you get supervision, it's usually for a period of 4 months to 2 years. During that time, the judge may require other things like community service, alcohol classes, and order fines and fees be paid. Supervision requires you not violate the law in any way. Any tickets, arrests, or failure to comply with the other requirements of supervision may result in a violation. The judge may then re-sentence you, and can re-sentence you to a conviction, and up to the maximum penalty for the crime you received supervision for.
Some crimes are not supervision eligible while other crimes only allow supervision one time ever.
*This blog is informative only and does not give legal advice