In October 2014, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson partnered with local law enforcement to establish the First Chance Intervention Program, a rehabilitative diversion program for individuals with first-time, Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses. Today, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy released a report examining the First Chance Intervention Program and the potential societal, systemic, and financial benefits that would come with expanding the program to other offenses.

This election season our newspaper added two questions on drug policy to questionnaires we sent candidates for state offices. Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, surprised me with his answer on whether he’d support putting a medical marijuana amendment on the ballot for voters to decide.

Read the rest of this article at The Dallas Morning News.

MEDIA ADVISORY

September 15, 2014

Contact: Robert Wood 

Phone: (512) 637-7709

Broad-Based Coalition Launching Smart-On-Crime Initiative

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition will announce a wide-ranging and comprehensive criminal justice reform agenda for the 2015 Legislative Session at a Capitol news conference on Wednesday, September 17, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.

A bipartisan coalition pegged "Smart-on-Crime" is hoping to send a strong message to state lawmakers when it comes to criminal justice reform. "The biggest thing we'd like to see is that probation be used much more often than it is currently,” Bill Hammond with the Texas Association of Business said. “Non-violent, non-sexual offenders—probation should be the first option."

Read the rest of this article at Time Warner Cable News - San Antonio.

A broad-based and diverse coalition of groups is coming together to support criminal justice reforms that will make the system more just and, at the same time, improve public safety for all Texans. The Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition will advocate for reforms that will provide punishment that actually fits the crime, protection for the innocent and a path to redemption for those convicted of non-violent crimes so they can get back to work and be productive members of society.

After decades of being 'tough on crime,' a broad coalition of groups ranging from the conservative Texas Association of Business to the liberal American Civil Liberties Union are urging a pivot, and want the state to take steps to become 'smart on crime' instead, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.

We may be some four months away from the start of the 84th Legislature, but preparations are well underway. And while much of that groundwork is taking the form of opposing interest groups getting ready to beat the living daylights out of each other, a somewhat happier tale may have started yesterday at the Capitol, where an unlikely bipartisan group of criminal justice reformers gathered to launch an effort that stands a good chance of making gains next session.

Texas outdid most of the nation in the high-crime 1990s with a prison-building binge that tripled the incarcerated population by 2000.

Read the rest of this editorial at The Dallas Morning News.

A new coalition of supporters of criminal justice reform announced an ambitious legislative agenda at a Capitol press conference on Wednesday. The Texas Smart-On-Crime Coalition‘s (TSCC) executive committee includes the Texas Association for Business (TAB), the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas (ACLU of Texas), and Goodwill Central Texas joined together.