Press Contact: For all media inquiries, please contact Madison Kaigh, Communications Manager, at mkaigh@TexasCJE.orgor (512) 441-8123, ext. 108.
Today, TCJC released part one of a two-part report series on women in Texas prisons and jails. A Growing Population: The Surge of Women into Texas’ Criminal Justice System examines the staggering rise in the number of women in Texas’ justice system and makes recommendations for programs and policies that can reverse this trend and effectively redirect women away from incarceration.
Read the rest of this press release here.
A group of juvenile justice reform advocates sent a letter today to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus calling for moving youth in state juvenile facilities to local juvenile probation, community programs, and small rehabilitative facilities closer to youth’s families, and urged legislators to develop a plan to close down all state secure juvenile facilities.
Seventeen-year-olds are automatically prosecuted as adults in the Texas criminal justice system. A new data analysis from a broad coalition of groups working to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Texas from 17 to 18 finds that 17-year-olds are arrested at a rate and for non-violent, low-level offenses that closely resemble those of 16-year-olds rather than older youth or adults.
A group of juvenile justice reform advocates hosted a press conference at the Texas Capitol today as part of Youth Justice Action Month calling for a new commitment to juvenile justice reform in Texas.
Austin’s Citizen Review Panel (CRP) has special access to certain internal investigations of police officer-involved shootings and other incidents. The Panel reviews the incident and may issue a letter of recommendation calling for policy or procedural changes at the Austin Police Department (APD), even if the officer is found to have violated no rules.
The FBI released its 2016 Crime in the United States report today and, although there are pockets of increased crime, the data indicates that Texas crime rates have dropped statewide.
Today, six statewide organizations, along with individuals and organizations directly engaged in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, filed a formal petition asking the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to issue a one-time Driver Responsibility Program (DRP) fee amnesty in Texas’ disaster area counties.
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) calls on Governor Greg Abbott to expand the call of the Special Legislative Session to fix the state’s dangerously outdated drug policies.
Today the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) releases the first in a series of new studies that attempt to shed light on the use of civil asset forfeiture in Texas. Our first study, conducted in Travis County, Texas, reinforces investigations being conducted around the country.
More than 90,000 fathers will be living in a Texas prison on Father’s Day this year. Some of them will soon be coming home. The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition calls for changes that will give those families a fighting chance at success.
Each year, over 70,000 people are released from Texas’ prison system. More than half have actually completed their sentence, are not under supervision, and get little or no help as they try to reestablish their lives.
Read the rest of this press release here.
