Criminal Law

TDCJ renews contract for state jail budget-cut candidate

Posted on November 17, 2010
Damn it. Robert Wilonsky at the Dallas Observer reports that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has renewed the contract with Corrrections Corporation of America to operate the Dawson State Jail in Dallas for the next seven years.I'd considered Dawson a good candidate for potential closure because it's located in an area where the city has proposed a major redevelopment project and the local chamber of commerce types wanted it gone...

CCA: Jurors must be willing to consider minimum punishments

Posted on November 16, 2010
Liberty and Justice for Y'all brings word of an important new case from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (Cardenas v. State), holding that jurors must be excluded if they say they cannot consider the full range of punishments available under the law...

Berman: Abolish Driver Responsibility Surcharge

Posted on November 16, 2010
One of Texas' most conservative legislators, state Rep. Leo Berman from my hometown of Tyler, today filed HB 299 "Relating to the repeal of the driver responsibility program." Bully for him!I called Rep. Berman's office to ask about the bill and he answered the phone himself...

Likelihood of Innocence: Quantifying reasonable doubt and acceptable collateral damage from false prosecutions

Posted on November 15, 2010
I thought I'd share with readers some interesting stuff I've been reading and thinking about lately from the blogosphere and elsewhere. The missus thinks that, if only for yall's benefit, I should split this up into three posts. She's right, but I've spent too much time editing the damn thing already so I'll just apologize in advance for the length and dive right into it: The Likelihood of Guilt and Statistical Probability Via Simple Justice and Eugene Volokh, I found this pair of posts from Steven Landsburg at The Big Questions both provocative and interesting...

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Texas Tough: Author to speak in Austin

Posted on November 14, 2010
Michele Deitch asked me to post this, so here you go:From the William Wayne Justice Center:Join us for a book talk by Robert Perkinson, author of Texas Tough: The Rise of America?s Prison EmpireMonday, November 22, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. in the Law School?s Sheffield RoomTexas Tough is a critically acclaimed history of imprisonment, race, and politics from slavery to the present, with an emphasis on Texas...

Tribune: Jail deaths reflect on medical care

Posted on November 14, 2010
The Texas Tribune's Brandi Grissom reports that:more than 280 Texas county jail inmates ... died from illnesses while in custody over a four-and-a-half year period, according to data provided by the Texas attorney general and analyzed by The Texas Tribune...

Scalia v. Breyer: Do legislators' intentions matter?

Posted on November 14, 2010
AP reports that:One of the most conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and one of the most liberal ones sparred Friday over capital punishment, the direct election of senators and various other constitutional questions during a rare public debate that highlighted their philosophical differences...

Saturday Afternoon Roundup

Posted on November 13, 2010
Here are a few stories that have been backing up this week while I've been focused elsewhere: New kid on the blockScott Greenfield sings the praises of Harris County's new Public Defender, Alex Bunin, and Mark Bennett assures us he's hopeful. The most difficult part of this job after hiring the best possible staff will be remaining politically independent (not in a partisan sense but as its own bureaucratic entity wedged between multiple, existing institutions) while procedurally and budgetarily reliant on judges and the commissioners court, respectively...

Faulty hair forensics used to convict executed defendant

Posted on November 12, 2010
I don't suppose this will change anybody's mind on the death penalty pro or con, but it appears Texas may have executed a defendant based on a bogus forensic hair comparison. The Texas Observer has the scoop in a story which opens:Claude Jones always claimed that he wasn?t the man who walked into an East Texas liquor store in 1989 and shot the owner...

Blast from the past: SWAT raid shuts down Dallas VFW over veterans' poker night

Posted on November 11, 2010
This is a little dated but new to me, so consider it a Veterans Day Special. Via Radley Balko, check out this video from Reason.TV about a raid by SWAT personnel during poker night at a Dallas VFW hall, narrated by the comedian Drew Carey back in 2007:I wonder if this heroic endeavor ever made it onto an episode of Dallas SWAT?

On the benefits to county budgets, local police coverage from reducing pot penalties

Posted on November 10, 2010
Grits has been arguing that budget cuts in corrections will require policy changes in addition to merely reducing line items at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, a reality that other states like Arizona and Oklahoma are struggling with as well...

'The Confessions'

Posted on November 09, 2010
Must-see TV on PBS Frontline tonight at 8 p.m. Central: A documentary titled "The Confessions." Here's the description:Why would four innocent men confess to a brutal crime they didn?t commit? FRONTLINE producer Ofra Bikel (Innocence Lost, An Ordinary Crime) investigates the conviction of four Navy sailors for the rape and murder of a Norfolk, Va...

Will slight rise in inmate numbers keep Lege from closing prisons?

Posted on November 09, 2010
Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman reports that a modest increase in the number of inmates at TDCJ may squelch efforts to close prisons, something that's been happening in other states. His story today opens:Faced with a possible $20 billion budget gap, Texas legislative leaders had hoped to discuss closing some state prisons to save money...

Austin Police Montor candidates announced

Posted on November 09, 2010
Candidates for the Austin Police Monitor include some familiar names; see coverage from the Austin Chronicle. I'm ambivalent about the selection, for the same reasons that I opposed the final version of the original agreement creating the office. Negotiated terms hammered out between the City Manager and the police union in a "meet and confer" contract (which should be expiring any time now, if it hasn't already) turned the Austin Police Monitor into a toothless watchdog...

Final word: Court won't reconsider Keller decision

Posted on November 09, 2010
From AP. I think I can speak for everyone in saying I'm glad it's over. A likely less universal reaction is that I'm glad the three-judge panel at least fixed their error pinning Keller's legal fees on the taxpayers before denying the motion to reconsider...

TYC football team receives spirited welcome

Posted on November 09, 2010
Occasionally, following this nationally publicized example, schools on the schedules of TYC's fooball teams have taken to welcoming the visiting squad with their own cheering section, food after the game, etc.. Here's a story of a private Austin school which showed the Giddings State School Indians a good time before and after a thorough on-the-field trouncing...

Will Jon Stewart ask Rick Perry how the system "worked" in Anthony Graves case?

Posted on November 08, 2010
Texas Gov. Rick Perry will be on The Daily Show tonight promoting his new book. Matt Kelley at Change.org's Criminal Justice blog has launched a Twitter petition asking the Daily Show's John Stewart to confront Perry over his recent comment that Anthony Graves' recent exoneration from death row proves the system "works...

Purchasing Access: Examining the GEO Group's Texas political expenditures

Posted on November 08, 2010
National Public Radio recently ran a story about how private prison companies helped write Arizona's controversial statute (currently being litigated in federal court) requiring local police to arrest and detain illegal immigrants. Private prison companies' interest in immigration law should come as little surprise for Grits readers: Nearly five years ago I wrote that the potential for expanded detention of illegal immigrants appeared virtually "limitless,"and this blog has long lamented the extra costs to county jails from such policies...

New crimes, penalty increases "enhance" nothing but spending side of state, county budgets

Posted on November 08, 2010
Earlier this year Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation wrote (pdf) that "Texas can?t arrest its way out of a recession, but many policymakers act as if we could." Seldom has that been more evident than on this, the first day of bill filing for the 82nd Texas Legislature, as suggestions for new crimes, increased penalties, and unfunded mandates related to law enforcement are coming out of the woodwork...

Does DRP amnesty punish those who play by the rules?

Posted on November 07, 2010
Regular readers know I was particularly pleased when the Public Safety Commission enacted Amnesty and Indigence rules for the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP), but a story in the Dallas News ("Texas drivers who haven't paid fines get a break under new surcharges," Nov...

Lubbock considers in-house competency restoration for mentally ill defendants

Posted on November 07, 2010
Defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness typically must wait for beds in state hospitals to open up before they can be declared competent to enter a plea, even for petty misdemeanors. Now Lubbock County may join the ranks of jurisdictions performing competency restoration in the jail instead of sending them all to state hospitals, where waiting lists are typically months long...

Other states closing prisons in wake of budget crunch

Posted on November 06, 2010
News that budget cuts have forced closure of a prison unit in Oregon for the first time in that state's history prompted me to take a second look at this recent report (pdf) from the Vera Institute of Justice titled "The Continuing Fiscal Crisis in Corrections," which reports that quite a few other states are taking similar steps:Fifteen states of the 44 surveyed reported plans to close facilities or reduce their number of beds in fiscal year 2011, many as a result of a decreasing prison population...

Guns stolen from DPS troopers less worrisome than stolen laptops

Posted on November 06, 2010
I was interviewed by a local Austin TV station a couple of days ago regarding weapons, laptops, bullet-proof bests and other equipment stolen from DPS troopers. Here's the clip, for those interested:One tidbit that didn't make it into the story: I might consider this a bigger deal depending on the circumstances...

Houston wants to continue red-light cameras after voters rejected them

Posted on November 06, 2010
Whenever red-light cameras are proposed, we're always told the goal is public safety, not revenue generation. But after Houston voters elected to remove the cameras, all the official complaints are about the resulting revenue shortfall and the city is looking for ways to keep them running over voters' objections through the end of the current contract...

Noncompliant jails

Posted on November 05, 2010
A few tidbits from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS):TCJS has posted online a list of Texas county jails which inspectors found to be out of compliance with minimum state standards, including pdf documents identifying areas of noncompliance...

Real conservatives aren't afraid of prison closures

Posted on November 05, 2010
Yesterday I'd rhetorically asked "What would Ronald Reagan do?" about high corrections costs, and in response Jake Horowitz of the Pew Charitable Trusts emailed to point out a related sidebar in this 2008 policy brief (pdf) which reads as follows:The history of state-local corrections partnerships is often dated to California?s 1965 enactment of the Probation Subsidy Act, which provided counties up to $4,000 for each prison-eligible adult or juvenile offender who was supervised, sanctioned and serviced in the community...

Parole officers don't receive mandatory in-service training, caseloads exceed legal limit

Posted on November 04, 2010
A recent state auditor's report found that Texas Department of Criminal Justice parole officers have caseloads exceeding legal limits, don't receive required in-service training, and often aren't equipped with basic technology including voice mail to help keep track of offenders...

Is conservative mandate on criminal justice to "git tuff" or save money?

Posted on November 04, 2010
So Republican voters swept 22 Democrats out of the Texas House of Representatives, and unlike in Washington where Republicans realize they're still relatively unpopular, Texas conservatives are taking the transformation for a mandate.But is there a mandate on criminal justice? And if so, is that mandate to "git tuff" or to save money? Polls show prisons are one of the few areas where the public favors major spending cuts...

Taxpayers won't pick up Sharon Keller's legal tab

Posted on November 04, 2010
Taxpayers won't be paying for Sharon Keller's legal fees, reports the Austin Statesman's Chuck Lindell:Clearing up confusion in its order dismissing an ethics rebuke against Judge Sharon Keller, a special court of review has issued a new order that no longer makes taxpayers liable for Keller?s legal costs...

Criminal justice implications of Texas 2010 elections

Posted on November 03, 2010
Yesterday's election included several notable results from a Texas criminal justice perspective:As expected, all the statewide races went Republican, including Michael Keasler handily defeating Keith Hampton to retain his seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals...

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