The Blog

By Lauren McGaughy Houston Chronicle AUSTIN — In Texas, you have to be 21 to apply for a concealed handgun permit, and, in many cities, 18 to buy an e-cigarette. In the eyes of the criminal justice system, however, you are considered an adult at age 17, a nearly century-old law juvenile justice advocates and law enforcement increasingly agree is out of step with national norms. Texas is one of only nine states with an age of adulthood under 18. The cutoff long has raised the hackles of advocates who say 17-year-olds are not mature enough to be tried, sentenced and incarcerated alongside adults. Now, some agreement is coalescing around the idea of upping the age to 18 as Texas seeks to comply with newly instituted federal standards for jails and prisons. “We support it,” Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia recently said. Four lawmakers already have filed bills ahead of … Read More

A bill filed Monday morning will decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana in Texas. The bill, numbered H.B. 507, would make knowing or intentional possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a non-criminal offense with a civil penalty of no more than $100. “Our current marijuana policy in Texas just isn’t working,” said Rep. Joe Moody (D, El Paso) the bill’s author. “We need a new approach that allows us to more effectively utilize our limited criminal justice resources. This legislation is a much-needed step in the right direction.” Police are prohibited from arresting a person for possession of an ounce or less. Instead, they will issue a citation that gives a date for an appearance in a justice of the peace (JP) court. The JP court is a low-level court in Texas that typically hears traffic violations, minor juvenile issues and civil small claim matters. … Read More

A Republican state lawmaker is hoping to decriminalize Texas students’ learning experience. Rep. James White’s bill, will decriminalize truancy laws and require schools to find a way to incentivize attendance and student learning. In 2013, school officials, nonprofits, and even the then-Chief Justice for the Texas Supreme Court, worked with state lawmakers to get a bill that banned school resource officers from issuing misdemeanor tickets to students “disrupting class,” signed into law. In 2015, Woodville Republican Rep. James White would like to decriminalize truancy laws that penalize students and their parents for missed school days. “Look, what we need to do is, we need to incentivize and encourage students to get to school, and we need to do it in a less criminal way,” said White. White said, too often, these are children that come from one-parent homes, where their mother or father was holding down more than one job. … Read More

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has made great progress in the area of criminal justice reform, but there is still a long way to go. That was the consensus message from a panel discussion earlier last month at the University of Texas at Austin, as reform advocates from the left and right, a state representative, and a man incarcerated for nearly twenty five years for a crime he did not commit, shared their thoughts with an audience of journalists, professors, students, and activists interested in criminal justice reform at the Texas Tribune’s annual Texas Tribune Festival. The panel, titled “What’s Next for Criminal Justice Reform?” was moderated by Bill Keller, editor-in-chief of The Marshall Project, a non-profit news website that focuses on criminal justice issues. Panelists included Vikrant Reddy, senior policy analyst with the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Michael Morton, who was wrongfully convicted of … Read More

The second time, we hope, will be the charm. An underused 2007 state law offered police officers the option of writing citations for certain low-level offenses rather than hauling suspects to jail. The point was to keep cops on the street and avoid burning up valuable hours processing defendants for misdemeanors like marijuana possession or graffiti. Dallas tried to take advantage right away, but the experiment went poorly, with most offenders failing to show for court. Fortunately for the city’s taxpayers, Dallas Police Department and county officials will make another run at it next year, with improved processes in place. For example, offenders will need to have a local ID and provide a thumbprint to officers on the spot. The aim is to slash the earlier no-show rate of about 60 percent. The bigger goal is to save each officer the two to four hours squandered in driving a nonviolent … Read More

Texas Tough may be taking a back seat to Texas Smart when it comes to crime and punishment. An unlikely coalition of reformers, think tanks, and business groups are uniting under a new banner of “Smart-on-Crime” to take aim at what they say are the broken parts of our justice system. Their chief aim is changing how we think about nonviolent drug offenders, increasing treatment and diversion to reduce the numbers in prison. The group also wants to make sure offenders don’t end up as professional criminals with more reentry programs and supports to help people get their lives together. Listen to an audio stream at Texas Public Radio.

AUSTIN — A new coalition is combining forces from the left and the right in the name of launching reform on crime. The group — called the Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition — brings together groups such as the Texas Association of Business, Goodwill Central Texas, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the right-leaning Texas Public Policy Foundation think tank. The group wants to push for reforms that include “punishment that actually fits the crime, protection for the innocent and a path to redemption for those convicted of nonviolent crimes so they can get back to work and be productive members of society,” a release from the group states. Read the rest of this article at the Corpus Christi Caller Times.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new coalition is outlining major juvenile and criminal justice reform they want to see in the next legislative session. ‘Texans Smart-on-Crime Coalition’ is looking to change state laws that criminalize nonviolent crimes, and get those people back to work. “Keeping people who don’t need to be behind bars locked up prevents people from getting drug treatment that they need,” said Vikrant Reddy, senior policy analyst at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Preventing people from getting licenses that they should be able to obtain, those things should be very important for the economic feature of Texas, not just the public safety.” Some of the coalition’s goals include decriminalizing truancy for school students, allowing more non-violent offenders to serve probation rather than going to state jails, and job training for inmates before they’re released. “We need to make sure that only the people that pose a threat to public … Read More

AUSTIN, Texas — A new coalition of supporters of criminal justice reform announced an ambitious legislative agenda at a Capitol press conference on Wednesday. The Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition‘s (TSCC) executive committee includes the Texas Association for Business (TAB), the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU of Texas), and Goodwill Central Texas joined together. For followers of criminal justice issues in Texas, representatives from these organizations are a familiar sight at the Capitol, testifying before legislative committees and advocating for reforms. This is the first time, however, that they have all publicly joined together with a unified agenda. In a statement released to the press, the Director for the Center for Effective Justice at TPPF, Marc Levin, discussed the leadership role that Texas has taken in this area and the strengths of this new coalition: “As in many other policy … Read More