Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Grits for Breakfast

Criminal Law

: Grits for Breakfast

Failure to update state crime database affects employment options for the unconvicted

Texas' statewide crime database is woefully incomplete, containing no information at all about outcomes on more than 30% of cases, reports the Dallas News ("Counties fail to update cases in state crime database," Aug. 23):The state's criminal database, riddled with holes four years ago, has just as many gaps today.Although officials in Dallas and other poorly reporting counties promised in 2004 to do better, the Department of Public Safety says counties in the most recent assessment submitted outcomes on just 69 percent of criminal charges ? the same percentage as before."That's astonishing. That's leaving a substantial total number of criminals unreported in the system," said John Bradley, Williamson County district attorney. "That's the biggest threat to public safety that you can imagine, particularly in a post-9/11 time when we rely on databases to protect the public...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 23, 2008 (boomark / email).