Bexar County

Overview

Bexar County (San Antonio) is the state’s fourth-largest driver of people into state prison and home of the state’s third-largest county jail population. Furthermore, youth of color are disproportionately impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline in San Antonio. During 2017 and 2018, TCJE began working alongside advocates in San Antonio, informally lending our policy expertise and continuing our efforts to bridge organizing and statewide policy change, specifically as it relates to safe reductions in justice system involvement and elimination of the associated racial disparities.

In early 2020, TCJE formally expanded our office to San Antonio, hiring Justin Martinez as our Bexar County Justice Project Advocate. Justin has participated in coalitions and has advocated for change in the local justice system, addressing issues like bail reform, policing, alternatives to incarceration, youth justice, and more.

Participating in Local Coalition Advocacy

When the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) expanded its work to San Antonio, we collectively assessed jail commitments to get a better understanding of the landscape, and helped craft an informal policy agenda, including cite-and-release, juvenile reform, and indigent defense.

Prior to Texas’ March 2018 primary elections, we helped write a questionnaire for DA candidates, as well as support the Fair Punishment Project (now the Justice Collaborative) and MOVE San Antonio, who partnered with local organizations to hold a candidate forum.

In 2020, TCJE was invited to join SA Stands, a local collaborative committed to reducing the number of people in jail and ceasing unnecessary collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Fighting for Education Justice

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT & STUDENT BILL OF RIGHTS: In August 2019, TCJE and our partners stopped a vote on changes to the San Antonio ISD’s Student Code of Conduct because they did not adequately address the school-to-prison (or school-to-deportation) pipeline. We collectively demanded stronger language stating that campus police officers will not get involved in the discipline process in cases that do not involve criminal charges. We also asked the district to take steps to broaden community input on the revision. Superintendent Pedro Martinez agreed that many of the elements we sought would be implemented.

In November 2019, the ISD adopted a Student Bill of Rights as part of a new Student Code of Conduct. It says that students have the right to be informed about disciplinary and use-of-force practices at school and to consistent and equitable discipline practice, among other provisions. It lists recommended practices to respond to student behavior, including mentoring programs, peer mediation, and counseling.

Still, in February 2020, student advocates attended the School Board meeting to ask for less police involvement in school discipline and further amendments to the district’s Student Code of Conduct and Student Bill of Rights. Students made 7 requests – including stronger limits on school police, as well as publicly available discipline reports that include the race and campus of students disciplined – which were endorsed by TCJE and others. Members of the SAISD teachers’ union stood and spoke alongside the students.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: One highly effective alternative to school policing is restorative justice. In February 2020, TCJC – along with the student activists of San Antonio ISD and beyond, PODER, and the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions – held our first in a series of restorative justice events at the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center. This convening on school discipline and youth justice included a student-led discussion about effective alternatives to harsh discipline policies that impact thousands of Texas students, as well as a panel of scholars who have led the charge in securing student rights in SAISD in recent months.

At the event, we released TCJC’s new restorative justice report, and we sought to jumpstart a community-wide planning process for developing and implementing strategies that will reduce the number of students arrested, expelled, suspended, and referred to court for misbehavior incidents at school.

The San Antonio Express-News released an editorial the following month specifically about our report and supporting our recommendations.

SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE: In mid-2020, San Antonio ISD school board members rejected requests from advocates to disband its police department but pledged to examine disciplinary practices for officers.

Yet still, TCJE and advocates signed on to a letter drafted by IDRA, which, among other, called for divesting from school policing programs, and reallocating funding towards healthier strategies – like restorative justice practices and coordinators, counselors, social workers, nurses, and ethnic studies courses. TCJE’s Alycia Castillo and over 100 others also called the ISD with phone message-based “testimony” seeking an end to school policing. San Antonio ISD did affirm a commitment to use restorative practices to create a safe environment for students and adults.

In early 2021, as COVID was still impacting schools and student wellbeing, Alycia Castillo participated in a student-led discussion on student rights, alongside San Antonio ISD students themselves, Dr. David Stovall (Professor of African-American Studies and Criminology, Law & Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago), and Andrew Hairston of Texas Appleseed. Called “Student Rights are Human Rights,” the event was sponsored by PODER, SAISD Student Coalition, and the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel.

Building Transparency Through Data Dashboards

TCJC launched our Bexar County data dashboard in April 2020. The dashboard, created with January Advisors and with support from Microsoft Cities Team, puts data on disparities in Bexar County’s justice system right at your fingertips to hold leaders accountable. It overlays data from 400,000 criminal court cases with demographic information to create a comprehensive view of case outcomes in Bexar County, including the degree to which arrests are skewed in communities of color, and how bail amounts differ – especially important to track as issues surrounding bail remain ongoing.

In August 2020, we used the dashboard on social media when alerting followers to Bexar County’s budget process.

TCJE launched our Bexar County probation dashboard in 2023. The dashboard, created with January Advisors, allows you to examine probation implications for various charges over a wide date range (2010-2022), further broken down by misdemeanor or felony. After choosing a charge, you will get an overall picture of the number of people assigned to probation, the number who have completed it, their average probation duration, and revocations. You can further examine the charge by County Commissioner precinct or City Council district – and you can also see the charge broken down by race, gender, and age, as well as the population’s demographics compared to Bexar County as a whole (income, owner vs. renter, school level, health insurance coverage).

Among the key takeaways:

• From 2010 to 2022, over 46,000 people were assigned to probation in Bexar County.
• While white people are assigned to probation at higher rates than other racial/ethnic groups in Bexar County, Black and people of color, on average, serve longer probation sentences than their white counterparts.
• When ranked with 15 of the largest probation populations in Texas, Bexar County has the second highest revocation rate – surpassing other large urban counties like Harris, Dallas, and Travis. Over half (55 percent) of the revocations were for technical reasons.

Addressing COVID-19 in the Bexar County Jail

By early May 2020, the majority of all new COVID-19 cases in Bexar County were attributed to the jail. That month, TCJE and SA Stands began developing weekly reports detailing the number of people in the Bexar County jail – incarcerated individuals and staff – who had tested positive for COVID over the course of that week, as well as the numbers of people being quarantined or treated offsite during the course of that week. We used these in our #DecarcerateBexar social media push.

Justin Martinez and multiple organizations, representatives, and individuals also signed on to a letter to Sheriff Javier Salazar in May 2020, spearheaded by SA Stands, demanding a moratorium on arrests and new bookings, safe environments for people who remain incarcerated, jail releases, reductions in ICE holds, reentry plans for people leaving the jail, and public data on COVID-19 related issues and arrest/booking data.

In August 2020, we and our partners kept up the pressure on local leaders. TCJE supported a virtual press conference by SA Stands to discuss jail conditions, featuring stories shared by attorneys and doctors about the treatment of incarcerated individuals.

Fighting for a Cite-and-Release Ordinance

TCJE has been supportive of local partners who have long been fighting for a comprehensive cite-and-release ordinance in San Antonio, which would prevent arrests and instead require citations for certain offenses.

We have joined in meetings with the Mayor, Pretrial Services, and the DA’s office, and we initially got the backing of the Chair of the Public Safety Committee. However, in 2020, the introduction of the ordinance was delayed until 2021. Still, to bolster community support for the ordinance, SA Stands launched a petition, and we have collectively engaged in a social media campaign to educate people about the ordinance and its importance, especially for communities of color. Ultimately, though, the Public Safety Committee Chair claimed she would only back a resolution, not an ordinance. In response, advocates sent a letter to the Committee sharing our disappointment and advocating for the strongest possible resolution.

TCJE and our partners remain in strong support of an ordinance. In February 2022, TCJE produced a short report for local leadership — with the input of SA Stands and ILRC — that detailed: the current failures of policing and incarceration, especially for people of color and other marginalized communities; data on cited, arrested, and jailed populations in San Antonio; and the need for a comprehensive cite-and-release ordinance "that seeks to make arrest an absolute last resort; expand the use of IDs, and ensure robust and timely data collection and community input."

Dallas County

Overview

Dallas County is a massive driver of people into the adult prison system – second only to Harris County (Houston) – and home of the state’s second-largest county jail population. Furthermore, youth of color are disproportionately impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline in Dallas, especially those attending schools in South and West Dallas.
During 2017 and 2018, TCJE began working alongside advocates in Dallas, informally lending our policy expertise and continuing our efforts to bridge organizing and statewide policy change, specifically as it relates to safe reductions in justice system involvement and elimination of the associated racial disparities.

In 2019, TCJE formally expanded our office to the Dallas area, hiring Leon Theodore as our Dallas County Justice Project Advocate. Informed by his own lived experience in the justice system, Leon builds coalitions throughout the city and county and works to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.

Participating in Local Coalition Advocacy

When the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) expanded its Right2Justice work to Dallas to conduct education and advocacy around the 2018 primary elections, TCJE worked with TOP to finalize their full reform platform and seek support from District Attorney candidates. The platform included ending mass incarceration, protecting immigrants, reducing police violence and misconduct, eliminating the death penalty, and ending civil asset forfeiture.

We also helped write a questionnaire for DA candidates, and we worked with Fair Punishment Project to hold candidate forums.

Supporting Bail Reform

In early 2018, TCJE supported attorneys’ efforts to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against Dallas County – similar to one filed in 2016 in Harris County (Houston) – alleging that the county’s bail system unfairly harms low-income people by failing to consider a defendant’s ability to post bond.

This suit remains pending.

Building Transparency Through Our Data Dashboard

TCJE launched our Dallas County data dashboard in spring 2019 at a presentation to Dallas Morning News staff. The dashboard, created with January Advisors and with support from Microsoft Cities Team, puts data on disparities in Dallas County’s justice system right at your fingertips to hold leaders accountable. It overlays data from 113,000 criminal court cases with demographic information to create a comprehensive view of case outcomes in Dallas, including the degree to which arrests are skewed in communities of color, and how bail amounts differ – especially important to track as issues surrounding bail remain ongoing.

In April 2019, new Dallas County DA John Creuzot announced a set of policies aimed at decarceration. The backlash from law enforcement was swift, and the Governor weighed in. Critics charged that the new policies – especially around theft, criminal trespass, and marijuana – would weaken the rule of law and encourage illegal behavior.

We used the dashboard to show the potential impact of the new policies, largely revealing that, prior to that point, a disproportionate number of Black defendants were impacted by over-criminalization, and they faced higher bail amounts. Our analysis showed that DA Creuzot’s policies can help right some of the historical wrongs in Dallas County while taking a critical first step towards shrinking the size of county’s justice system.

In September 2019, Jay Jenkins was invited to participate in UT-Dallas’ Criminal Justice Summit, Community Matters: Advancing Justice and Promoting Human Dignity in the Criminal Justice System. Jay sat on a panel titled “Justice, Dialogue, and Data,” alongside Eva Ruth Moravec (Texas Justice Initiative) and Changa Higgins (Dallas Community Police Oversight Coalition). Each discussed how their organization is using and sharing data that safeguards civil liberties while maximizing the opportunity for evidence-based policy-making and reform.

Fighting for Better Outcomes for Kids: P.E.P. Initiative

Systemic racism, implicit bias, and deficit thinking have, over time, resulted in a population of undervalued students in Texas who are experiencing social-emotional issues, which the education system has attempted to address through a culture of policing and control. Specifically, schools have implemented a “zero tolerance” approach to any perceived misbehavior, resulting in suspensions, expulsions, and justice system referrals. Students of color are over-disciplined compared to white students, making it harder for them to develop and succeed in the long run.

Leon launched TCJE’s Perception Equals Potential (P.E.P.) Initiative in January 2020 to identify and advance community-based solutions that can address exclusionary discipline and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in the Dallas area. Leon has brought together a large, diverse coalition of practitioners in education and legal fields, justice and education reform advocates, academics, and students. Together, they are advocating for strategies in schools that foreground mentoring, student engagement, mindfulness, peer-to-peer mental health support, positive self-perception, and restorative justice. This is especially critical in schools that contain the highest concentration of Black and Latinx students, and that excessively rely on disciplinary action.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS THROUGH WELLNESS: In early 2021, select P.E.P. participants, together with local programming providers, founded the “Achieving Success Through Wellness” (ASW) Collaborative. Participants promoted student wellness through a racial equity and mental health lens.

As part of this work, the ASW Collaborative initiated virtual town hall meetings for school personnel and community members to share their experiences and offer solutions that will keep kids on track.

At the same time, the P.E.P. Initiative hosted empowerment camps to give students and parents the tools to advocate for their own best outcomes.

EDUCATIONAL ADVOCACY SERVICES (EAS): Next, Leon developed EAS, where graduate students in social work partner with local schools to address and prevent school discipline (e.g., in-school and out-of-school suspensions) and improve school culture and climate.

The program has three phases:  

1. The graduate students receive comprehensive training on school discipline, cultural competence, restorative justice techniques, youth mental health and community resources, and other issues.
2. These students develop an Action Research Project specific to preventing exclusionary school discipline and improving student engagement.
3. The graduate students work weekly with teachers, students, practitioners, and administrators in particular schools, utilizing their training and restorative practices (like relationship-building circles) to identify and repair harm, ensure accountability, and help keep students in their classrooms. Graduate students have also implemented their research interventions, including a ‘community closet’ with school supplies and food.

This launched as a pilot program in DeSoto, where practitioners called it “an essential part of the operations” and “a natural benefit to our district.” Check out a video with their feedback here!

And in 2024, EAS will be expanding to Central Texas — so we'll be able to help more students thrive!

HARMFUL LABELS: Throughout these efforts, Leon has remained passionate about shifting the narrative around students and discipline: Labeling students perpetuates both their negative self-perception and the negative perceptions of them by school personnel, creating a cycle of disciplinary actions from which students can find difficulty escaping. At the same time, schools with higher percentages of students labeled “at risk” may make funding decisions—like over-investing in school policing—that fail to put students on a path to success.

Change Your Perception Initiative (CYPI) Travel Program

Since the Perception Equals Potential (P.E.P.) Initiative first launched in 2020, Leon Theodore and TCJE’s Dallas County team have worked with students and schools to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. Their work in the education system has highlighted persistent divides, inequities, and disparities, particularly those experienced by BIPOC scholars and specifically Black scholars. Additionally, this school-based work has underlined the lack of restorative justice programming in many education systems, perpetuating the school-to-prison nexus.

With these realities at the forefront, the Change Your Perception Initiative (CYPI) travel program launched in 2024. Grounded in the belief that changing the perspective of one individual can change the trajectory of an entire family and community, CYPI aims to make civic engagement, restorative leadership, and cultural competence a tangible experience for BIPOC scholars, specifically Black scholars. By taking youth “Ambassadors” to other countries, the program allows them to experience various cultures and learn how they “fit in" to a global society, ultimately giving them agency, increased mindfulness, and empowerment that they will carry back to their communities.

2024 TRAVEL PROGRAM: This year, CYPI plans to initiate their first group of Ambassadors (many who’ve never left the United States), made up of Black and brown scholars ages 16-17 from South and West Dallas communities. In June, the Ambassadors will be introduced to the program through four courses:

• National-Cultural Awareness
• Community Building and Empowerment
• Civic Engagement
• Restorative Leadership

In August and September, the Ambassadors will travel to Stuttgart, Germany, to participate in SCORA 24, a week-long summit with 400 youth from other countries focused on efforts to end racism and antisemitism. The summit ends with a learning capstone presentation launch to be designed by the Ambassadors themselves.

After returning to the U.S., Ambassadors will present their capstone projects at their schools or in their local communities, and CYPI will kick off a yearlong in-school-time companion program.

In future years, CYPI plans to expand its model to include additional programming, more schools, and peer-created content.

COMPANION SCHOOL PROGRAMMING: During the 2024-2025 school year, CYPI will partner with the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy (BOMLA) at A. Maceo Smith, working with their Social Studies, World Language, and Language Arts Programs. The companion program will deepen CYPI’s summer programming, and offerings will align with program-specific Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS),* such as responsibility, caring, and good citizenship. CYPI programming is designed to deepen understanding of global issues and equip our Ambassadors to become global citizens able to identify, inform, and implement change.

* TEKS alignments are specific to Social Studies, World Language and Language Arts: Culture, Government, Developing and Sustaining foundational language skills, Responsibility, Caring and Good Citizenship.   

Harris County

Overview

Harris County (Houston) is Texas’ largest county, as well as the state’s largest driver of people into local- and state-level incarceration. The county jail holds approximately 8,000 people on any given day, the majority of whom are legally innocent, awaiting trial; prosecutorial practices and an inadequate treatment infrastructure further push people into the justice system. Youth, too, have historically been failed by local practices, including over-policing in schools.
TCJE began making strategic strides in Harris County in 2011, but we formally expanded our office to the Houston area in 2014, hiring Jay Jenkins as our Harris County Project Attorney. Jay has worked to build coalitions and advocate for change in the local justice system, addressing issues like bail reform, alternatives to incarceration, youth justice, and more.

Fighting for Community Reconciliation

From 2011-2013, TCJE undertook an effort to build a working unity among Black and Immigrant communities in Houston, resulting in groups sharing stories of injustices, providing words of encouragement to each other’s communities, and standing in solidarity on pressing struggles – including at the Janitor’s Strike for a living wage, in efforts opposing privatization of the county jail, and by addressing the death toll of the Mexican Drug War during the Caravan for Peace’s stop in Houston. TCJE ultimately released a report – Harris County Communities: A Call for True Collaboration – Restoring Community Trust and Improving Public Safety – and held a town hall and panel discussion to build on the recommendations.

Participating in Local Coalition Advocacy

TCJE helped the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) draft the policy platform for Right2Justice, including the issues of youth justice and bail reform, and we have participated or co-sponsored various symposiums.

Providing "Know Your Rights" Trainings

TCJE collaborated with the Harris County Public Defender’s Office to provide interactive “Know Your Rights” presentations about police encounters and justice system involvement. We have conducted dozens of presentations, including during resident meetings at public housing complexes, at churches, in schools, and with other young people.

Fighting for Bond Reform

ADVOCACY WITH STATE AND NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: From 2015-2016, TCJE was invited to sit on a state-level advisory group to assist a standing committee of the Texas Judicial Council, which issued recommendations for Texas courts on enhancing public safety and social outcomes when making pretrial release decisions.

Separately, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation and John Jay College of Criminal Justice invited input into the development of a national pretrial research agenda that will be considered for future funding by the Foundation. TCJE submitted recommendations specific to the costs of commercial bail vs. pretrial release systems, and presumptive release on unsecured bond. Ultimately, TCJE was the only state group invited to submit recommendations from the field, alongside five national groups.

WORK ON TRANSITION TEAMS: TCJE's Jay Jenkins advocated for bail reform on the transition teams of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, specifically around greater use of personal bonds or an amount below the bail schedule.

SUPPORT FOR LITIGATION AGAINST THE COUNTY: TCJE was supportive of the federal civil lawsuit filed against Harris County in 2016 for its unjust misdemeanor bond system. We provided the Civil Rights Corps (CRC) with data and other intelligence-gathering on the ground, and, in response to an op-ed by Michael Kubosh, a Houston City Councilman and bail bondsman, TCJE co-authored an op-ed with TOP about the current bail system promoting profit over justice. The federal lawsuit, which was formally settled in late 2019, increases access to personal bonds for approximately 85% of misdemeanor defendants. Jay is now assisting the individuals selected to serve as the Federal Monitor over the settlement, specifically by serving on the Community Working Group for the Monitor Team, which is advising the Team as it oversees the county’s compliance with the consent decree over seven years.

We separately worked with TOP and CRC to request and review videos of magistration hearings, finding damning video of judges mistreating defendants. Publication of those videos led Texas Senator John Whitmire to file complaints with the Texas Commission on Judicial Standards against three of Harris County’s five criminal magistrates for failing to issue personal bonds for indigent defendants, or even inquire about their indigency status. This, in turn, shed light on a longstanding practice wherein criminal and district court judges were directing magistrates to deny no-cash bond to all newly arrested defendants, in violation of state judicial conduct rules.

SUPPORT FOR LITIGATION AGAINST THE CITY: TCJE also supported a 2016 lawsuit filed by the Civil Rights Corps against the City of Houston. This suit was bolstered by jail booking data – captured by TCJE and our partners, resulting in plaintiff identification – that showed a lag between arrest/booking and the probable cause hearing. (While provision of the hearing may be the responsibility of the County, the City is liable for holding people for more than 48 hours without the hearing.) In 2018, a U.S. District Judge found that city officials intentionally destroyed evidence, which Jay called “an extraordinary ruling” against the city. In July 2020, the Houston City Council voted to settle the lawsuit and give plaintiffs $1.17 million in exchange for indemnity.

CALLING ATTENTION TO PRETRIAL NUMBERS: Since January 2020, TCJE and TOP have been issuing weekly pretrial reports to illustrate how Harris County’s felony judges are jailing thousands of people prior to trial simply because they cannot afford the money bail required for their release. The reports provide the daily average number of people detained prior to trial on each judge’s docket, and they highlight the hefty cost of pretrial detention to Harris County’s taxpayers. TCJE has been especially vocal about pretrial release in light of COVID-19, sharing data on the limited releases permitted by Harris County district court judges – who have left more than 6,000 people in jail awaiting trial – and pointing out the significantly high infection rates in the Harris County Jail compared to other locations.

HOLDING JUDGES ACCOUNTABLE: Beginning in September 2020, TCJE and researchers at Harvard University have been releasing individualized scorecards for some of Harris County's felony judges, pointing to pretrial detention rates and racial disparities.

Additionally, TCJE and Restoring Justice launched a series of monthly reports in September, showing the (sometimes low to nonexistent) rates at which Harris County district judges are assigning indigent defendants to the Public Defender’s Office, instead relying on private attorneys.

REPORT SERIES ON MEDIA BIAS: In October 2021, TCJE released The Real 'Bond Pandemic' – a new report analyzing local TV news stations’ coverage of bond. Specifically, we looked at 6 Houston-area TV stations to better understand their role in shaping false narratives around bond reform and the criminal legal system. We found that a significant share of these stations’ stories had a negative slant towards bond reform, that the stories were often misleading about the realities of misdemeanor bond reform in Harris County, and that the stories frequently quoted officials with a vested interest in a negative perception of reform – like the police, District Attorney’s Office, and Crime Stoppers of Houston – without including perspectives from advocates or impacted people. We accompanied the report with a blog post where you can view the key stats on the six TV stations we analyzed, read misleading articles with annotations from the authors, compare coverage that includes the most quoted local officials, and check out recommendations for reporters and news stations. We also launched a Change.org petition demanding unbiased media coverage of the criminal legal system.

In April 2022, TCJE released the second report in this series, called Materially Misleading, which analyzed articles run by the Houston Chronicle. We found that while the Chronicle provided balanced and informative coverage of bond reform, the newspaper sacrificed its impartiality by disseminating negative coverage of legally innocent defendants who were rearrested while released on bond. Similar to our first report, we found that most of the Chronicle’s crime coverage could be sourced to either law enforcement or the District Attorney’s Office – and when not quoting those sources, Chronicle reporters relied on organizations like Crime Stoppers of Houston, the former employer of District Attorney Kim Ogg; that organization regularly receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the District Attorney and law enforcement agencies, giving it a vested interest in the outcome of criminal cases. View the full blog post with recommendations. 

Holding Local Judges Accountable

Three report series from TCJE and our partners shine a light on the justice system in Harris County. Individualized judicial scorecards show the percentages of Black, Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic white people jailed by each judge prior to trial, while reports on pretrial detention highlight the number of legally innocent people who are jailed every week in the county. Both report series are part of our Harris County team's advocacy for bail reform, which also includes support for ongoing litigation against the city and county. A third series explores indigent defense appointment rates to evaluate the use of the Harris County Public Defender's Office.

Please note: Since summer 2023, Harris County has paused the release of the data used to compile our judicial accountability reports. You can still view all of the historical data below, and keep an eye on this page for future changes.

Harris County Judicial Accountability Scorecards

In September 2020, TCJE and researchers at Harvard University began producing individualized scorecards for some of Harris County’s felony judges. The scorecards include the percentages of Black, Hispanic white, and non-Hispanic white defendants each judge detained prior to trial on their docket. The scorecards also compare each judge to other Harris County felony judges in terms of racial and ethnic disparities in detention rates and bond amounts. The reports track the cases in front of each judge where the defendant is held pretrial and rely on jail population data provided by Harris County. Note: Reports published prior to the week of January 24, 2021, have been re-uploaded with edited language for clarity.

Click to view scorecards by judge and year: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Harris County Pretrial Detention Report Series

A weekly report series from TCJE and the Texas Organizing Project reveals that Harris County’s felony judges are illegally jailing thousands of people prior to trial simply because they cannot afford the money bail required for their release. The reports rely on jail population data provided by Harris County to rank each judge by the daily average number of people detained prior to trial on their docket. The reports also highlight the hefty cost of pretrial detention to Harris County’s taxpayers.

Click to view reports by year: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Harris County Indigent Appointments Report Series

TCJE is partnering with Restoring Justice on a monthly report series showing the rates at which Harris County district judges are assigning indigent defendants to the Public Defender’s Office (PDO), which has the capacity to receive up to 20% of all district court indigent defendants. While an increasing number of judges are relying on the PDO, many judges are still opting to appoint private attorneys to such cases – despite research showing that private attorneys are less effective than the PDO, and that they exceed maximum recommended caseload limits. The reports draw from Harris County’s Indigent Defense dashboard. NOTE: Read our February 2023 blog post that shares more on these reports, including increased transparency around indigent defense appointments, and how those appointments have climbed since the release of our first report.

Click to view reports by year: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Opposing Prosecutor Expansion

TCJE continually fights to reduce the overall front-end push of people into the justice system, including through fewer prosecutions. In February 2019, DA Kim Ogg asked the Harris County Commissioners for $20 million for 102 new prosecutors, claiming that additional prosecutors would help reduce high attorney caseloads and provide more opportunities for diversion. TCJE and TOP opposed the DA’s budgetary request, highlighting concerns with redirecting money from needed services, like mental health and substance use treatment.

TCJE's Jay Jenkins also testified in opposition at the Commissioner’s Court hearing, emphasizing the DA’s mandate of high bail requests in misdemeanor cases, arguing that prosecutorial policies annually ensnare thousands of people and put the immigrant community at risk, and recommending the more effective strategy of refusing to prosecute low-level charges.

Ultimately, the Commissioners voted 4-1 to reject the request.

Later in 2019, TCJE and 9 partners again opposed DA Ogg’s request for $7.4 million for 58 additional prosecutors through a letter to commissioners. Commissioners ultimately provided less funding than requested, limiting the number of new prosecutors.

Spotlighting Failures In Indigent Defense In Harris County

PAY-TO-PLAY EXPOSURE: TCJE’s Jay Jenkins worked with Economist Neel Sukhatme, Ph.D., a Georgetown University Law professor, to analyze the impact of campaign contributions on appointment of counsel in Harris County. We co-authored an academic paper – “Pay to Play? Campaign Finance and the Incentive Gap in the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel” – that links defense attorneys’ financial donations to judges to increased appointments by those judges, as well as to worse representation by donor attorneys.

The paper was accepted for publication in the Duke Law Journal and was featured in The New York Times in mid-2020.

More specifically, this paper included an evaluation of more than 290,000 Harris County felony cases from January 2005 through May 2018 that involved assigned defense counsel. For the first time, we empirically showed that when appointing attorneys to represent indigent clients, elected judges in Harris County were far more likely to choose lawyers who had donated to their campaigns. We also found that defendants were more likely to end up in prison or jail, and received longer sentences on average.

Other key findings from the report are as follows:

• Judges in Harris County often accept donations as an apparent “entry fee” from counsel soon after they become eligible for indigent defense appointments.
• On average, judges assign their donors more than double the number of cases they assign to non-donors, a practice that is inconsistent with the “wheel” assignment system mandated by Texas law.
• Preferential assignment patterns enable donors to earn, on average, more than double the total attorneys’ fees of non-donors; the average donor earns $31,081 in attorneys’ fees from the donee judge–a more than 27-fold “return” on the campaign contribution.
• Donor attorneys are less successful than non-donors in attaining charge reductions, dismissals, and acquittals, or avoiding prison sentences for their clients. This may be due to donors taking on so many cases from their donee judges that they have less time to spend on each matter.

The article amplified an August 2019 article by Neena Satija in Texas Tribune/Texas Monthly about judges receiving donations from attorneys who practice in front of them.

Dr. Sukhatme presented the information to Georgetown faculty, and he and Jay co-presented it at a UT-Austin workshop in October 2019.

Then, in June 2020, Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Sukhatme presented the paper to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, after which they were invited to be on a legislative workgroup in advance of the 2021 state legislative session.

CAPITAL DEFENSE ISSUES: TCJE evaluated over 5 years of visitor logs to the Harris County Jail – spanning January 1, 2015, to March 1, 2020 – with a focus on attorney visits to people charged with capital murder. Our analysis revealed several shocking facts regarding the representation of capital murder defendants in Harris County, the epicenter of American capital punishment.

Of the 603 defendants we studied:

• 51 individuals received no visits by an attorney during this period.
• 137 individuals were visited by an attorney less than once per year.
• 258 individuals were visited by an attorney less than twice per year.
• 56 individuals (less than 10% of cases) were visited by an attorney more than once per month.
• 12 individuals were convicted but never visited by an attorney.

In February 2024, we released these findings in an issue brief called Absentee Advocacy: Failures in Harris County’s Capital Representation System. This built on Death by Design, a December 2023 report series by the nonprofit Wren Collective (part 1, part 2) that highlighted the failures in how Harris County handles cases where a defendant is accused of capital crimes and potentially faces the death penalty or a life without parole sentence.

In TCJE’s issue brief, we pointed to our own past research on the “pay to play” system and how that perpetuates attorneys’ financial interests over effective counsel. And we ultimately called on Harris County leaders to establish a Harris County Capital Defender Office, per the Regional Public Defender Office (RPDO) model – this is already used in 186 Texas counties, and it’s proven to outperform private court-appointed lawyers. RPDO provides capital representation by assigning teams of 4 people in each case it receives, including two attorneys, an investigator, and a mitigation specialist, all of whom have training specific to capital cases.

We co-hosted a community town hall in Houston in February 2024 on attorney representation, called “Fighting for Liberty: Improving Indigent Defense in Harris County.” TCJE’s Jay Jenkins joined Jessica Brand [The Wren Collective], Geoff Burkhart [Texas Fair Defense Project], Anthony Graves [Peer Navigator Network], and Sasha Lagette [Pure Justice]. 

NOTE: This research is particularly relevant in light of a judge’s recent recommendation to overturn a death sentence in Harris county on the grounds that the defendant received insufficient legal representation. In the “extremely rare” and “highly unusual” filing, Judge Natalia Cornelio found that lawyers appointed to represent Jeffery Prevost failed to investigate critical information about the defendant’s background and upbringing, and that the lead attorney in his case was overburdened.

Promoting Alternatives to Incarceration

EARLY SUPPORT FOR DIVERSIONS: We have long fought to reduce the Harris County Jail population through advocacy for diversion programs (recommendations issued in 2012) and legislative testimony specific to safely right-sizing the jail’s population (provided to the House County Affairs Committee in 2014).

Furthermore, we have discussed criminalization and over-incarceration of the mentally ill – a significant problem in Harris County – with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

SUPPORT FOR THE FIRST CHANCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM: In October 2014, then-District Attorney Devon Anderson partnered with certain law enforcement agencies to establish the First Chance Intervention Program (FCIP), a rehabilitative diversion program for people with first-time, Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses. In 2015, TCJE and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy issued a report examining the FCIP and the potential societal, systemic, and financial benefits that would come with expanding the program to other offenses, including low-level theft and drug possession arrests. The Houston Chronicle followed up with an editorial echoing our arguments and citing our report. In late 2015, the District Attorney extended the FCIP to all law enforcement agencies in Harris County. Also importantly, the DA’s vocal message that marijuana is a low-level, nonviolent offense provided her with the opportunity to expand the program to first-time shoplifting arrests.

RELEASE OF REFORM BLUEPRINT: In 2015, TCJE worked with partners to develop A Blueprint for Criminal Justice Policy Solutions in Harris County, which provides recommendations related to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, the bail system, alternatives to incarceration, rehabilitation services, and reentry programs. We officially released it at a town hall event sponsored by the Earl Carl Institute for Legal & Social Policy at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and the University of Houston Law Center, where we outlined action steps that community members could take to effect change at various points in the system.

Note: This blueprint served as an update to a report issued by the Justice Management Institute in 2009, which offered recommendations for reducing the jail population. Furthermore, the blueprint served as the template for the county’s successful 2016 application to the MacArthur Foundation for a Safety and Justice Challenge grant, which resulted in the county receiving $2 million over three years to reduce its average daily jail population; TCJE's Jay Jenkins went on to serve on multiple MacArthur grant-related committees to support Harris County’s efforts.

WORK TO ADDRESS KUSH: In 2017, when the use of synthetic cannabinoids (kush) was making alarming headlines in Houston, we teamed with the Baker Institute to co-author a report recommending decriminalization of kush possession and use, and diversion of individuals to the Houston Recovery Center. Following the report, the City’s use of the Homeless Outreach Team to divert these individuals (a recommendation from the report) helped address the underlying issues of homelessness and substance use in a more humane way.

RELEASE OF REPORT ON TREATMENT NEEDS: In 2019, TCJE and the Baker Institute released a report analyzing the availability of substance abuse treatment services in Harris County. Our findings were based in large part on surveys and in-person interviews of treatment providers. We found gaps in care in treatment, insufficient standards of care and limited outcome tracking, and challenges in the county’s ability to effectively connect people charged with drug offenses to drug treatment and other services – both due to insufficient community resources and the inherent inability of the justice system to handle people with unaddressed needs.

Fighting for Better Outcomes for Kids

ADDRESSING THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE: We have been working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in Harris County. We have analyzed data on students impacted by school policing, which has revealed stark racial disparities and troubling spending ratios on law enforcement compared to dropout prevention, college readiness, and parent and community engagement combined. We also released a report on school policing with ONE Houston and the ACLU of Texas, and we joined in co-hosting a “Teach-In” to get community input. We are currently working with area school districts to promote restorative strategies that keep kids in the classroom and on a productive path.

SUPPORT FOR "RAISE THE AGE": TCJE has joined with a coalition of Houston-area faith leaders and other advocates to support “Raise the Age” – which would increase the age of adult court jurisdiction from 17 to 18, and treat kids like kids. Texas remains one of three states left to raise the age.

SUPPORT FOR DUAL-STATUS YOUTH: TCJE's Jay Jenkins served on the Steering Committee and Oversight Committee of the Harris County Youth Collective, which works to support kids aged 10-17 in both the youth justice system and child welfare system – seeking solutions that help young people thrive in the areas of education, wellness, and the transition to adulthood. NOTE: The Youth Collective transformed into Collective Action for Youth.

ADVOCACY FOR YOUTH DECARCERATION DURING COVID-19: In light of COVID-19's impact on juvenile facilities over 2020 and early 2021, we and our partners held regular meetings with Harris County leadership – including the Harris County District Attorney’s Juvenile Division Chief and the Harris County Juvenile Probation Chief – related to reducing the population of detained youth. We also urged the Probation Department to partner with and resource community-based service providers, increasing the local capacity to care for kids being released from detention. We are thrilled that, in February 2021, Harris County formalized this effort through Texas’ first-ever Youth Justice Community Reinvestment Fund (comprised of funding initially earmarked for juvenile probation, as well as $2 million from the county’s General Fund), intended to ensure that investments in alternatives to detention flow directly into communities most impacted by juvenile detention, enabling under-resourced local providers to meet the unique needs of youth and families in their neighborhoods.

Building Transparency Through Our Data Dashboard

Our Harris County data dashboard, which we launched in 2018, puts data on disparities in Harris County’s justice system right at your fingertips to hold leaders accountable. The dashboard, created with January Advisors and with support from Microsoft Cities Team, overlays data from more than 800,000 criminal court cases with demographic information to create a comprehensive view of case outcomes in Houston – including the degree to which arrests are skewed in communities of color, how bail amounts differ, and individual judges’ sentencing decisions.

This dashboard has been used to evaluate Harris County’s marijuana diversion program – finding that it was successful in reducing the number of charges filed, but unsuccessful in reducing the dramatic racial disparities in marijuana cases. Furthermore, the Justice Collaborative and economist John Pfaff used our dashboard data to analyze DA Ogg’s practices and rebut claims of progress during her request for 102 new prosecutors. Grits for Breakfast has analyzed drug and other arrest data in making the case for needed reforms.

Nearby Work: Addressing the Legacy of Convict Leasing in Sugar Land, Texas

Reginald “Reggie” Moore was a former prison guard at the now-closed Central Unit in Sugar Land (Fort Bend County). He was long vocal about the city’s use of leased convicts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2011, after the Central Unit closed, Fort Bend County acquired the land and, in 2018, construction began on a new Career and Technical Center for Fort Bend ISD. Ultimately, 95 graves were found on the site – victims of the convict-leasing system. Reggie and TCJE's Jay Jenkins sought proper reburial of the bodies and historical designations.

As part of our work to call national attention to this issue, we have garnered press, Reggie and Jay co-founded the Convict Leasing and Labor Project, and we collaborated with Rice University to hold a symposium in April 2019, called “Capitalism and Convict Leasing in the American South,” featuring lectures from leading national experts on the history of convict leasing.

In 2020, we began holding a webinar series, called "History Exposed," on convict leasing, its history, and its legacy. During the first webinar, which we held on Juneteenth, we showcased a new report on convict leasing, produced by Hanna Kim on behalf of the Convict Leasing and Labor Project. Soon after, Reggie passed away, but the Convict Leasing and Labor Project has maintained the fight.

The webinars continued, with the second discussing women in Texas prisons; the third discussing the Bullhead Camp Cemetery and a new report on the Sugar Land 95, issued by Fort Bend ISD; and the fourth webinar discussing the lasting impact that convict leasing left on our deeply punitive and racialized criminal justice system.

Travis County

Overview

Travis County (Austin) is the state’s fifth-largest driver of people into state prison and home of the state’s fifth-largest county jail population. Drug possession is a large driver of local incarceration, with felony drug possession cases increasing by 34% from 2014 to 2019. The local treatment infrastructure has been insufficient to address the high need for services.

While TCJE does not have a staff person dedicated exclusively to working in Travis County, our Austin-based staff have been participating in local advocacy since 2016. Our work, in strong partnership with other advocates on the ground, has been incrementally paving the way for pre-arrest and pretrial reforms that will improve people’s access to treatment and programming, reduce the number of people entering incarceration, and make Travis County safer.

Supporting Pretrial Reform

In 2016, various advocates – including TCJE, Grassroots Leadership, the Texas Fair Defense Project, the ACLU of Texas, and Texas Advocates for Justice – began working with Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt and other local leadership on pretrial issues. We collectively provided her information and recommendations related to pretrial interventions and related reforms, and TCJE and other groups called on local leaders to invest in community-based programs and advance pretrial reform to reduce the local jail population.

In mid-2017, after Grassroots Leadership released a report revealing disparities in booking and in the number of days spent in the county jail by people of color, TCJE joined them and other advocates at a press conference, marking the second anniversary of Sandra Bland’s death in Waller County Jail.  We again called on local officials to implement policies that will reduce local incarceration rates and racial disparities in the county jail.

Advocates also formalized a group, called DecarcerateATX, to continue to make demands regarding Travis County’s over-incarceration and racial discrimination. TCJE sat on the policy committee.

Working to Improve Policing, Especially for People in Mental Health Crisis

TCJE partnered with various criminal justice and civil rights groups in a coordinated campaign against the City of Austin’s contract with the police union; among other things, that contract governed disciplinary measures in response to police misconduct, as well as oversight and accountability, but it also informed police responses to particular situations, like mental health crises. In fall 2017, TCJE released a brief highlighting how the contract fails to ensure adequate oversight or appropriately address police misconduct. At the same time, TCJE released a report on Austin’s Citizen Review Panel, which recommended significant and wide‐ranging reforms intended to prevent unnecessary deaths among people with mental illness who interact with police; given that such recommendations were not binding under the terms of Austin’s contract with the police union, our report emphasized the need for changes to Austin’s oversight system to allow for real policy and procedural reforms.

In late 2017, the Austin City Council unanimously rejected the union’s contract, freeing up $10 million that the City can spend elsewhere. Advocates pushed for initiatives that would divert people from incarceration, including drug and mental health treatment, permanent supportive housing for the homeless, and youth programs. TCJE and the Austin Justice Coalition also advocated for an independent organization to receive citizen complaints about police misconduct, given that the Citizen Review Panel was suspended during contract negotiations.

Note: In November 2018, the City Council and police union approved a labor agreement that included wins for transparency and oversight, such as the creation of an Office of Police Oversight to take complaints against officers, review cases, assess body-worn camera footage and use-of-force cases, and publicly report on investigation outcomes, disciplinary actions, and racial profiling data. Furthermore, per the new contract, police suspensions lasting three days or less will be included in an officer’s personnel file, which impacts promotions and public records.

Opposing Construction of a New Women’s Facility

In September 2017, DecarcerateATX members testified at a Travis County budget hearing in opposition to a proposal to build a new women’s jail. Many women in Travis County’s jail are confined for low-level possession offenses and kept for lengthy periods – rather than being offered access to programming in the community, despite many having higher needs. At the hearing, advocates emphasized other ways to address the growing number of females confined in the jail, including through stronger pretrial interventions.

Over the following six months, TCJE and other DecarcerateATX advocates continued to put pressure on county stakeholders to find alternatives to jail construction.

In March 2018, prior to another County Commissioners’ meeting, TCJE attended a press conference organized by Grassroots Leadership, during which Doug Smith called for investments in community-based behavioral health services.

Ultimately, the Commissioner’s Court agreed to pull the funding for jail construction and instead spend a year considering other opportunities to advance the health and safety of community members through diversion and treatment alternatives.

However, in May 2021, an $80 million proposal to build a new women's jail was back on the table – despite the current population of incarcerated women being half what had been projected in the county's planning. TCJE joined advocates in loudly opposing the "trauma informed facility," speaking at a press conference, signing on to a well-backed letter, and engaging in other outreach around the trauma and family separation that accompany a jail sentence. In mid-June, after hours of testimony from approximately 100 people in opposition to the jail, the Travis County Commissioners voted to “pause” for at least a year and convene a diversion-focused working group. This is a significant achievement, driven by system-impacted people, and advocates will now strengthen efforts to educate and mobilize around community-based alternatives to incarceration over the coming year.

Fighting for a Public Health Response to Addiction and Behavioral Health Issues

While Austin has implemented specific programs to address minor marijuana possession offenses (effective January 2018), driving with a suspended license (June 2018), and state jail felony-level drug and property offenses (June 2018), it is in dire need of a pre-arrest diversion program, but it lacks services and resources for people who would be eligible. However, the District Attorney and law enforcement leadership have expressed interest in alternatives to arrest and incarceration.

To lay out our vision for reform, TCJE released a short report in 2018, A Public Health Approach to Illicit Drug Use in Travis County. It calls for investments in the treatment infrastructure, investments in harm reduction and outreach, improved recovery-oriented community supports, and a reoriented response of various actors – law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and probation officers – from incarceration to community-based diversion.

In June 2018, Austin passed the “Freedom City Policy,” which, among other things, will prevent arrests for minor marijuana possession, driving with a suspended license, city ordinance violations (including related to homelessness), and other low-level offenses. Two months later, Austin/Travis County opened its Sobering Center, intended to divert people from jail for public intoxication charges; over the course of its first year, it served approximately 2,000 people.

While these are clear wins, advocates have continued pushing for deeper reforms and a more comprehensive pre-arrest diversion approach. For instance, TCJE transitioned our Public Health Approach publication into a shared document that various groups amended and signed on to. (Our document also informed statewide recommendations to the Texas House Select Committee on Opioids & Substance Use Disorder.) We continued to push our recommendations locally – especially critical during an August 2018 county budget hearing, when the women’s jail was re-proposed in the budget.

Analyzing Local Offense Data to Inform Policing and Prosecutorial Recommendations

REPORT ON THE DRUG WAR IN TRAVIS COUNTY: Beginning in late 2018, TCJE began collecting county data on nearly 3,000 less-than-a-gram drug possession cases filed from June 2017 to May 2018. (A gram is the equivalent of a sugar packet.) We worked with Grassroots Leadership, the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, and the University of Texas School of Law’s Civil Rights Clinic to analyze the data and develop recommendations related to drug possession and police practices.

We jointly issued our key findings in early 2020, following a set of community forums but prior to a District Attorney candidate forum called “Justice & Health: The Role of the Prosecutor in Ending the War on Drugs.” TCJE co-hosted the forum with the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance and Grassroots Leadership; we presented on our findings, and the candidates answered questions about their public safety priorities specific to public health approaches to drug use, harm reduction, and pre-arrest diversion programs.

A few weeks later, TCJE and our partners released our full report, Ending the War on Drugs in Travis County, Texas: How Low-Level Drug Possession Arrests are Harmful and Ineffective. It shares the disproportionate impact of drug arrests on people of color, reinforcing similar findings by the City that Black individuals are the most over-represented of all groups in Austin when looking at stops, searches, and arrests.

Our report also discusses the consequences of drug arrests and makes recommendations related to ending prosecution for personal-use drug possession, ending pretext traffic stops, and developing a harm reduction approach to address substance use.

We used our report data and findings in ongoing discussions with local leadership about the need for smarter strategies in Austin.

INTERACTIVE DATA VISUALIZATION ON THE DRUG WAR: In October 2021, TCJE continued our work with Austin-area advocates to draw attention to the local war on drugs. We partnered with January Advisors to create a scrolling data visualization that shows how police saturation is tied to social vulnerability – like fewer jobs or social supports, lower education levels, and more renters – in certain Austin-area neighborhoods where drug possession arrests are most likely.

We accompanied the launch of this new storyboard with a webinar – hosted by TCJE's Alycia Castillo, with panelists Cate Graziani (Texas Harm Reduction Alliance), David Johnson (Grassroots Leadership), and David McClendon (January Advisors) – as well as a blog post  from TCJE's Sarah Reyes, a contributor to this data project who shares what she learned about her own neighborhood, as well as what to consider when going to the polls.

Protesting Racism by Police

LETTER SEEKING A "NO CALL" POLICY: In late 2019, TCJE signed on to an advocates' letter to District Attorney Margaret Moore requesting that her office implement a “No Call” policy, under which her office would not issue charges, seek arrest or search warrants, or consider cases that rely on the word of law enforcement officers who are found to be biased or dishonest. The letter referenced the senseless tasing of Quentin Perkins, a Black man on his knees, by two Austin Police Department (APD) officers. It also referenced revelations of a ​slow official response to complaints alleging that ​former the APD Assistant Chief used racial slurs for more than a decade, as well as disproportionate arrests of people of color and unnecessary shootings of people with mental health conditions.

CITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION RELATED TO POLICE RACISM: Also in late 2019, TCJE joined other advocates in testifying before Austin City Council in regards to a resolution directing the City Manager to: hire an independent investigator; undertake a comprehensive investigation and evaluation of APD for racism and other discriminatory attitudes, training, protocols, or procedures; and delay the start of new cadet classes. This resolution passed over the police union’s objections. TCJE’s Doug Smith specifically testified about our data findings related to “stop-and-frisk on wheels.”

LETTER CALLING FOR CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP: In April 2020, following APD’s fatal shooting of Mike Ramos, an unarmed man of color, TCJE signed on to a letter drafted by Austin Justice Coalition calling for a change in leadership specific to Police Chief Brian Manley, APD Chief of Staff Troy Gay, and Assistant City Manager Rey Arrellano; it also requested an independent investigation into the shooting, as well as a delay in the June 2020 Academy class and immediate implementation of training reforms to ensure that cadets are adequately trained in de-escalation as part of all use of force and scenario training.

WITHDRAWAL FROM GRANT PROCESS: TCJE and various partners also withdrew from a local grant proposal process involving APD, which sought federal funding for a diversion program for people with drug offenses, but which reinforced the police department’s unproductive philosophy towards people with substance use disorder.

TESTIMONY ABOUT POLICE VIOLENCE & APD BUDGET SHIFT: In June 2020, following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and nationwide protests against police brutality, including in Austin, TCJE staff and hundreds of others testified before the Austin City Council at an emergency hearing on related to police reform.

The following week, the Austin City Council voted unanimously to shift funding from new and vacant officer positions to mental health services, conduct audits of police misconduct, prohibit the use of tear gas and choke-holds, limit the use of deadly force, and take action to reduce police killings, as well as reduce racial disparities in stops, citations, and arrests. The Council also stated a “no confidence” vote in police leadership, and two Council members asked the police chief to resign.

In August 2020, the City Council agreed to immediately shift $21 million in funding from the Austin Police Department budget to address various needs, including homelessness, domestic violence, mental health, and substance use. Another $80 million in police functions will be moved to civilian control, like the 911 call center, the crime lab, and internal affairs. Finally, the city is taking community input on an additional $50 million in police functions to determine if they should be moved to other agencies; these include activities that sworn officers currently handle for the city but may not need to.