Seven years ago, Terry Brudos pulled his truck into the probation parking lot in Georgetown. He finished up a final toke of methamphetamines, put down the pipe and walked in to meet with his probation officer.
Read the rest of this article at the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
Until recently, progressives have largely embraced the involvement of the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch in the push for criminal justice reform, including changes in mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
Criminal Justice Committee Chair Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, has sent a strong signal now that he wants to review state drug sentencing guidelines during the 85th session of the Texas Legislature.
Pretrial release decisions are crucial to the safe and efficient operation of Texas jails. Unfortunately, a 2016 study found that “Texas’ resource-based bail system keeps low-risk individuals unnecessarily detained before trial and allows risky defendants to buy their freedom with limited oversight. This practice undermines public safety, disproportionately harms low-income defendants, and costs counties millions of dollars every year.”1
The Texas prison system, grappling like most other state departments with a request from state leadership to cut its budget, has signaled that it is prepared to entertain ideas about saving money by closing prisons.
The Texas Legislature created the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP) in 2003. Under the program, the Texas Department of Public Safety levies annual, administrative surcharges on the drivers’ licenses of people convicted of certain traffic offenses; some of the funds go towards repaying Texas trauma hospitals, which absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in uncompensated healthcare costs every year.
Jail is often called a revolving door, but now there's more hard evidence: Nearly half of Dallas County inmates are arrested again within three years of getting out, a new study says.
The revelation last week that payday lender ACE Cash Express is collecting for the Texas’ Driver Responsibility Program amounts to a double whammy for Texans who are struggling to keep their driver’s licenses, their vehicles and their jobs, critics say.
A coalition of agencies from the right and left have gathered to push for smarter approaches to handling crime and punishment.
Houston's Morning News with Matt Patrick, welcomes attorney Elizabeth Henneke of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, to discuss the end of the road or the Driver Responsibility Program.
