The case to end cash bail puts Harris County judges and magistrates under a microscope.

Read the rest of this article at The Texas Observer.

Bail is not intended to be a punishment; its intended purpose is to make sure that people show up for their court date. But in communities across Texas, people who are still presumed innocent are being held in jail because they can't afford to post bail.

Read the rest of this op-ed, co-authored by TCJC's Jay Jenkins, at the Houston Chronicle.

One evening last September, an employee at the local organization Grassroots Lead­er­ship was scanning through Travis Coun­ty's proposed budget when she stumbled upon plans for a new $91 million women's jail on the county's Del Valle correctional campus.

Read the rest of this article at the Austin Chronicle.

Instead, nine community groups urge for greater focus to be placed on implementing recommendations aimed at reducing incarceration rates.

Read the rest of this article at Patch.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg on Tuesday promised more pre-trial diversion programs for suspects in drug possession cases and those with mental health issues.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle.

Texas counties are watching to see how Harris County's fight against court-ordered bail practices will affect them.

Read the rest of this article at The Texas Tribune.

The FBI released its 2016 Crime in the United States report today and, although there are pockets of increased crime, the data indicates that Texas crime rates have dropped statewide.

Read the rest of this press release here.

Last week, in a scathing 193-page opinion, a federal judge ruled the misdemeanor bail system violates poor people's constitutional rights, given that people with money can go free within hours of arrest while those without must languish in jail until trial.

Read the rest of this article at Houston Press.

On Tuesday, the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety heard public testimony on both HB567 and HB574, two bills that would eliminate the authority of police officers to arrest people on offenses that are punishable by fines only — including minor traffic offenses such as speeding and, as in Sandra Bland's case, failure to use a turn signal.

Read the rest of this article at Hosuton Press.

Harris County commissioners on Tuesday approved a pilot program to make public defenders available at bail hearings, a step aimed at retooling a criminal justice system that has increasingly drawn criticism for jailing thousands of poor, low-risk offenders.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle.