What factors do judges consider when deciding whether to suspend a prison sentence?

When considering a suspended sentence, judges evaluate several key factors including the defendant's prior criminal history, their behavior during the case proceedings, and the nature of the crime itself. For probation violations, judges assess the type of violation - technical violations like failure to pay fees may not result in revocation, while new law violations typically lead to probation being revoked. Judges tend to be more lenient with technical violations but are much stricter with those who commit new crimes while on probation, often sentencing them to custody in these cases.