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Criminal justice

The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.

  • TribBlog: Youth Justice Merger?

    By Aziza Musa

    The Sunset Advisory Commission today unanimously recommended consolidating the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission into one single youth justice division. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Dropping a Dime

    By Brandi Grissom

    Texas prisoners have made and received more than 4.7 million telephone calls and sent and received 1.8 million e-mails since 2009, when the state became the last in the nation to allow inmates phone and e-mail use. But all those calls and messages haven’t generated the amount of revenue the state expected. The issue is balancing greater access for prisoners and their friends and family and the need to ensure security. Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • The General at War

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Rick Perry might be the state official most publicly doing battle with the the federal government, but Greg Abbott is quietly leading the charge on behalf of Texas. The Attorney General, who was just sworn into his third term in office, talked recently with Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune. Full Story 

    Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott
    Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera

  • Misdemeanor Misbehavior?

    By Morgan Smith

    The Texas criminal justice system is increasingly the destination for mischief-makers, some as young as 6, in the state’s public schools, according to a new study, which sheds light on what is a rapidly growing part of school budgets: campus security. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • TribBlog: Case "Undetermined"

    By Aziza Musa

    The Texas Forensic Science Commission heard testimony from four fire experts today to gather evidence about the reliability of the arson investigation that led to the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. Half said investigators got it right, and half said they were wrong. Full Story 

    John Bradley, left, is the new chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Cameron Todd Willingham, right, was executed for setting a house fire that killed his three daughters.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • On the Records: The Bills So Far

    By Matt Stiles

    A new word cloud visualizes the bills filed so far according to their Texas Legislative Council assigned categories. After education, which accounts for more than a quarter of the bills, the top categories are elections, criminal procedure, vehicles and traffic, and taxation. Full Story 

    House and Senate bills filed from 11/8-1/4.
    Credit: Graphic by Wordle.net

  • Michele Deitch: The TT Interview

    By Brandi Grissom

    The jail conditions expert and professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs on why maintaining treatment programs that keep offenders in their communities and reducing some of the harsh, long-term jail sentences often doled out in Texas' notoriously tough criminal justice system could be more cost-efficient and allow Texas to close prisons. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justin Dehn

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Ramshaw on how hard it is to sue over emergency room mistakes, Galbraith on paying for roads in an era of fuel-efficient vehicles, Aguilar on a disagreement about gun regulation, my interview with tort reformer Dick Trabulsi, Grissom on Perry's parsimonious pardoning, Hu and Chang interactively look at House committee chairs, M. Smith on an election challenge and who'll settle it, Ramshaw and Stiles on Dallas County's blue streak and Hamilton on a Valley school district that leads the nation in preparing kids for college: The best of our best from Dec. 20 to 24, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Beg His Pardon?

    By Brandi Grissom

    Pardoning has become a holiday tradition for governors and the president, who each year choose a fortunate few whose criminal records will get wiped clean. But experts say state and national leaders are granting fewer pardons these days — and doing it in a way that undermines a critical criminal justice process that allows rehabilitated offenders to lead normal lives. Gov. Rick Perry, for example, has granted only about 180 pardons since 2001. By contrast, Bill Clements issued more than 800 pardons during his eight-year tenure, while Mark White issued nearly 500 in four years. Full Story 

    Gov. Rick Perry in an interview with Tribune CEO and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • Triggering a Debate

    By Julián Aguilar

    Should Texas gun sellers be required to notify the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives when they sell two or more semi-automatic rifles to one person within a five-day period? The feds, desperate to stem the flow of weapons into Mexico, say yes. Gun rights advocates like Gov. Rick Perry say such a policy would be misguided. Full Story 

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  • The People's Choice

    By Julián Aguilar

    Three years after a crackdown that resulted in federal conspiracy charges against Laredo's former police chief, the city's electronic gaming parlors are back — most tucked in nondescript strip malls. Their resurgence owes to their popularity, says state Rep. Richard Peña Raymond, D-Laredo, who has offered a solution: Let the voters decide. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Ramsey on what a GOP supermajority means, Ramshaw on a crime victim not eligible for crime victims' compensation, M. Smith on grave matters and state regulation, Hamilton on the college pipeline at San Antonio's Jefferson High, Hu on a senator's anticlimactic return, Grissom on the coming closure of juvenile lockups, Aguilar on the return of residents to their drug-war-torn Mexican town, Galbraith on next session's energy agenda, Philpott on the legal fight over federal health care reform and Stiles on the travel expenses of House members: The best of our best from Dec. 13 to 17, 2010. Full Story 

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  • Grave Mismanagement?

    By Morgan Smith

    In October 2001, Marcos Guerra’s wife and three daughters laid him to rest at the cemetery in San Benito where members of his family had been buried for three decades. Almost four years later, they were at his graveside again, burying him a second time, after the cemetery moved his body without their permission and exhumed his remains. Now the family’s legal battle with one of the largest funeral services providers in North America, which has faced class-action lawsuits in several states, has reached the Texas Supreme Court — and is raising questions about the state’s regulation of after-life care. Full Story 

    A photograph of Marcos Guerra at the gravesite in San Benito, Texas.
    Credit: Delcia Lopez

  • Crime Doesn't Pay

    By Emily Ramshaw

    British tourist Thomas Reeve's murder in an Amarillo bar last fall shattered his family, which has been unable to claim financial assistance from the state’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund because he wasn't a U.S. resident. Full Story 

    British tourist Thomas Reeve was shot and killed in an Amarillo bar last fall by an armed robber, leaving behind an infant daughter. His parents’ efforts to claim financial assistance from the state’s Crime Victims Compensation Fund have been rebuffed because their son wasn’t a U.S. resident.
    Credit: Thomas Reeve's family

  • Achieving Closure

    By Brandi Grissom

    Lawmakers, bureaucrats and criminal justice advocates all agree that the state’s trouble-ridden Texas Youth Commission ought to close down two of its correctional facilities. Like other state agencies, TYC has been asked to cut its budget for the next biennium by 10 percent, or $40 million. But no one at TYC is saying which lockups should get shuttered. “They don’t want to bite that bullet and show leadership,” says state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. Full Story 

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