Press Contact: For all media inquiries, please contact Madison Kaigh, Communications Manager, at mkaigh@TexasCJE.orgor (512) 441-8123, ext. 108.
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calls on Governor Greg Abbott to expand the call of the Special Legislative Session to fix the state’s dangerously outdated drug policies.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.
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Effective November 16, 2015, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) announces Shakira Pumphrey as its new Policy Director. In this role, Ms. Pumphrey has strategic and operational responsibility for generating and coordinating TCJC’s research and policy work.
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In October 2014, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson partnered with local law enforcement to establish the First Chance Intervention Program, a rehabilitative diversion program for individuals with first-time, Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses. Today, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy released a report examining the First Chance Intervention Program and the potential societal, systemic, and financial benefits that would come with expanding the program to other offenses.
Dr. Ana Yáñez-Correa, who has served as the Executive Director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) since 2005, has accepted the position of Program Officer at the Washington, DC-based Public Welfare Foundation. She will be leading the Foundation’s Criminal Justice program, effective November 2, 2015.
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition worked closely with lawmakers and coalition partners to pass important criminal and youth justice reforms this legislative session, some of which are featured below. These reforms will improve public safety in Texas communities and bring long-term cost savings to taxpayers.
The Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition – whose Executive Committee is comprised of the Texas Association of Business, Goodwill Central Texas, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition – worked tirelessly with members of the Texas Legislature this session to pass cost-saving bills that increase public safety, strengthen the state’s workforce, and improve Texas communities.
The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) congratulates the Texas House of Representatives for passing SB 1630 earlier today, continuing their effort to improve the state’s once dysfunctional juvenile justice system. SB 1630 represents a fundamental shift in how young people would be served by the justice system by creating a regionalization plan for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD). The plan would allow youth to be kept closer to their home communities in lieu of commitment to distant state-secure facilities.
