The ‘Failure to Appear’ Fallacy
When the judge set his bail at $3,000, Jonathan Broad*, 57, thought “All I want is to die free—not in jail.” Broad was arrested in March 2016 and convicted of “criminal possession Read more »
Pretrial & Defense
Programs In Dallas And Williamson Counties Offer Young Offenders An Alternative To Incarceration
About 20 young people sit across from one another in two teams in a community room at CitySquare Opportunity Center in South Dallas. Deontra Wade walks around the room with Read more »
Texas prosecutors want to keep low-level criminals out of overcrowded jails. Top Republicans and police aren’t happy.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot announced policy reforms last month that he said would be “a step forward” in ending mass incarceration in Dallas. His plans include decreasing the Read more »
Reform Groups Applaud Dallas County DA’s New Policies
The plan from Dallas County District Attorney John Cruezot to scale back prosecution on some lower-level offenses to end what he calls “mass incarceration” is winning praise from criminal justice Read more »
Judicial Election Steers Texas County Toward Bail Reform
A lawsuit challenging the cash bail system in Harris County, Texas, is at an unusual crossroads after 14 Republican municipal court judges named as defendants in the suit — all Read more »
Beto O’Rourke Mobilized So Many Democratic Voters That They Swept Even Local Judges Out of Office
In Harris County, which is home to Houston and the third-largest county in the United States, Democrats unseated 59 Republican judges—including all 23 district judges, all 13 family court judges, Read more »
The Midterms Trigger a Seismic Shift in Harris County’s Courts
The Democratic sweep in Harris County Tuesday night could remake one of the largest criminal justice systems in the country.
Marijuana diversion works, but it’s not enough [Opinion]
Two years ago, Kim Ogg was elected district attorney of Harris County. One of her campaign promises was to implement a diversion program for first time offenders charged with low-level Read more »
2 Harris County judges responsible for 1 in 5 children sent to state juvenile prisons
Two Harris County judges accounted for more than one-fifth of all children sent to the state’s juvenile prisons last year, driving up the county’s Texas Juvenile Justice Department commitments even Read more »
New law protects Texans from being jailed for minor traffic tickets
New law designed to protect Texans from being jailed for minor traffic tickets has resulted in 300,000 fewer arrest warrants, announces Rep. Canales.
Read the rest of this Read more »
Pages
