The Democratic sweep in Harris County Tuesday night could remake one of the largest criminal justice systems in the country.

Read the rest of this article at the Texas Observer.

The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition released the third report in its “One Size FAILS All” report series. The report, Out of Sight: LGBTQ Youth and Adults in Texas Justice Systems, explores how the Lone Star State often fails to adequately address the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Texans, and instead frequently moves them into the youth and adult justice systems at higher rates than people in the non-LGBTQ community.

Two years ago, Kim Ogg was elected district attorney of Harris County. One of her campaign promises was to implement a diversion program for first time offenders charged with low-level marijuana possession. These are cases where a person gets arrested for “two ounces or less” of marijuana.

Read the rest of this op-ed at the Houston Chronicle. 

Two Harris County judges accounted for more than one-fifth of all children sent to the state’s juvenile prisons last year, driving up the county’s Texas Juvenile Justice Department commitments even as those figures fall in the rest of the state.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle. 

New law designed to protect Texans from being jailed for minor traffic tickets has resulted in 300,000 fewer arrest warrants, announces Rep. Canales.

Read the rest of this article at FOX News South Texas. 

Houston city officials intentionally destroyed evidence, wiping crucial data from the computer drives of top police commanders that is potentially relevant to a lawsuit about the detention of suspects beyond the 48-hour deadline for a magistrate hearing, a federal judge has ruled.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle. 

The woman who killed herself last week in the Harris County jail while locked up on a theft charge with $1,500 bail had threatened suicide at least once in the days before her death, according to sources familiar with the case.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle. 

Lindsey Linder joins Bill Hammond of Texas Smart On Crime Coalition on an op-ed regardng the unjust pretrial practices of money bail bonds, their harm to the poor, and endangerment to public safety.  

Read the rest of this article at TribTalk.

Shaye Bear gave birth to her son, Cashh, in an Ellis County Jail cell in Waxahachie on Thursday. She was about five months pregnant.

Read the rest of this article at WLWT News.

The Lone Star state notched up some bad marks in a newly released analysis of pretrial justice across the country.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle.