LBB Data Dump at Friday's House Corrections Hearing

The Texas legislative session is just getting rolling, with various committee holding their initial orientation meetings last week and this. Especially for new members (and their staffs), there is a lot of homework to do to get up to speed.

At yesterday's House Corrections Committee hearing, the Legislative Budget Board's Criminal Justice Division chief Michelle Connolly gave committee members their initial home reading assignments, distributing copies of several different reports that together give a statistical big picture regarding Texas' criminal justice system. I thought I'd provide those links here:

• 2007-2012 Adult and Juvenile Corrections Population Projections
• Statewide Criminal Justice Recidivism and Revocation Rates (Jan. 2007)
• Criminal Justice Uniform Cost Report (2004-2006)
• Texas Community Supervision Revocation Project (Jan. 2007)
• Profile of Felons Revoked in Texas in September 2005

In particular, Connolly pointed members to the "qualitative" analysis beginning on page 19 of the population projection report with the results from interviews and focus groups with various stakeholders. Among the highlights of those qualitative findings:

• Explanations for prison population growth most often related to a lack of substance abuse and mental health treatment available to offenders at all levels of the criminal justice system. Many believed this lack of treatment contributed to an increase in repeat offenders more likely to be sentenced to incarceration. Other consistent explanations related to socioeconomic factors such as low education levels, unemployment, and negative social and family environments.
• Explanations for increases in direct sentences were primarily attributed to offenders choosing state jail or prison sentences over community supervision or treatment alternatives.
• Stabilization of the current rising incarceration trends could be assisted by an overall reform of Chapter 42.12 (Community Supervision) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Specific modifications that were mentioned included shortening community supervision sentence lengths and streamlining the conditions of community supervision.

It's worth mentioning that the last bullet in large part describes the content of HB 2193 which Gov. Perry vetoed after the 79th Legislature. Shortening probation lengths and giving offenders ways to earn their way off probation through good behavior would also have helped with the problem described in the second bullet, encouraging more offenders to accept probation as part of their plea deal.

These problems were all obvious in 2005, but thanks to the Governor the needed reforms didn't begin last session. Maybe in the 80th Texas can get the job done.