Previewing Texas Lege hearings on #CJReform next week

Next Monday and Tuesday will be full days at the capitol for criminal-justice reform topics, with three different committees holding hearings relevant to the subjects covered on this blog. The Legislative Reference Library helpfully compiled these background resources regarding the interim charges those panels will consider:

House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence (May 16) 

Charge: Asset forfeiture

• SCOTUS Ruling Requires Relook at State Asset Forfeiture Laws, National Conference of State Legislatures, April 1, 2016
• Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture, 2nd Edition, Institute for Justice, November 2015
• Civil Asset Forfeiture: Good Intentions Gone Awry and the Need for Reform, Heritage Foundation, April 20, 2015
• New Bill Would End Policing for Profit in New Mexico (HB560), American Civil Liberties Union, February 19, 2015
• Audit of the Assets Forfeiture Fund and Seized Asset Deposit Fund Annual Financial Statements Fiscal Year 2014, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice, January 2015
• FY2015 Asset Forfeiture Fund Reports to Congress, U.S. Department of Justice, 2015
• Asset Forfeiture in Texas: DPS and County Interactions, Office of Court Administration, December 2014
• "Reverse Robin Hood: The Tale of How Texas Law Enforcement Has Used Civil Asset Forfeiture to Take From Property Owners and Pad the Pockets of Local Government – the Righteous Hunt for Reform is On," 46 Texas Tech Law Review 1169 (Summer 2014)
• Taking Contraband Without Taking Our Liberties: Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform in Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation, March 2014

House Committees on Corrections and Criminal Jurisprudence (Joint Hearing, May 17) 

Charge: Probation & parole - fees and revocations

• Resource Guide: Reforming the Assessment and Enforcement of Fines and Fees, United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, March 2016
• Probation Revocation and Its Causes: Profiles of State and Local Jurisdictions: Wharton and Matagorda Counties, Texas and Bell  County, Texas, University of Minnesota Law School, Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 2016
• Statewide Criminal and Juvenile Justice Recidivism and Revocation Rates, Legislative Budget Board, February 2015
• Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Probation Revocation: Summary Findings and Implications from a Multisite Study (Includes Dallas County, Texas), Urban Institute, April 2014
• Cutting Edge Corrections: Using Technology to Improve Community Supervision in Texas, Texas Public Policy Foundation, April 2014
• Profiting From Probation: America's "Offender-Funded" Probation Industry, Human Rights Watch, February 2014
• Profiles in Probation Revocation: Examining the Legal Framework in 21 States, University of Minnesota Law School, Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 2014
• Safer, Smarter, and More Cost-Efficient Approaches to Reducing Crime in Texas, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, February 2013
• A Framework to Improve How Fines, Fees, Restitution, and Child Support Are Assessed and Collected from People Convicted of Crimes, Council of State Governments Justice Center, Texas Office of Court Administration, March 2, 2009

Senate Committee on Criminal Justice  (May 17)

Charge 3: Reentry programs provided by TDCJ and the Windham School, including inmates in administrative segregation; Certified Peer Support Services; Darrington Seminary Program   

• Attorney General Lynch Releases Roadmap to Reentry: The Justice Department's Vision to Reduce Recidivism through Federal Reentry Reforms, U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, April 25, 2016
• "States Examine Policies, Conditions for Solitary Confinement in Prisons," Interim News, House Research Organization, February 17, 2016
• "Darrington Seminary Graduates First Class of Ministers," Criminal Justice Connections, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, May/June 2015
• Statewide Criminal and Juvenile Justice Recidivism and Revocation Rates, Legislative Budget Board, February 2015
• Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism, Congressional Research Service, January 12, 2015
• "Solitary Confinement, Public Safety, and Recidivism," 47 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform  495 (Winter 2014)
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, Windham School District, Board of Pardons and Paroles: Final Report with Legislative Action (Issue 2 - Reentry strategies), Sunset Advisory Commission, July 2013
• Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge 1 - Review correctional facilities and procedures, reentry & parole), House Committee on Corrections, January 2015
• Reentry and Integration Division (Reentry resource guide, reentry articles and reports), Rehabilitation Programs Division, Peer Recovery Support Services, Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Charge 4: Pretrial diversion and treatment programs   

• Overincarceration of People with Mental Illness: Pretrial Diversion Across the Country and the Next Steps for Texas to Improve its Efforts and Increase Utilization, Texas Public Policy Foundation, June 2015
• Pretrial Diversion, National Conference of State Legislatures, May 13, 2015
• Smart Justice, Initiative Resources, Jail Diversion, National Association of Counties

Charge 5: Dissemination of bulk criminal records   

• Fourteenth Report Examining Reporting Compliance to the Texas Computerized Criminal History System, Texas Department of Public Safety, January 2016
• Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2014, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2015
• Interim Report to the 84th Legislature (Charge 3 - Sale of criminal histories), House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, January 2015
• Criminal Records in the Digital Age: A Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Reform in Texas, William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law, The University of Texas School of Law, March 2013
• Broken Records: How Errors by Criminal Background Checking Companies Harm Workers and Businesses (Part IV/C, Bulk dissemination of records and state regulation of bulk dissemination), National Consumer Law Center, April 2012
• Report of the National Task Force on the Commercial Sale of Criminal Justice Record Information, SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, 2005
• Interim Report, 77th Legislature: Charge Three (Criminal records), Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, September 2000

Charge 6: Costs for family members to maintain contact with incarcerated family members    

• Screening Out Family Time: The For-Profit Video Visitation Industry in Prisons and Jails, Prison Policy Initiative, January 2015
• Video Visiting in Corrections: Benefits, Limitations, and Implementation Considerations, United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, December 2014
• Video Visitation: How Private Companies Push For Visits By Video and Families Pay the Price, Grassroots Leadership and Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, October 2014
• Study of the TDCJ Offender Visitation Policies, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, August 2014
• Please Deposit All of Your Money: Kickbacks, Rates, and Hidden Fees in the Jail Phone Industry, Prison Policy Initiative, May 2013
• "Prison Visitation Policies: A Fifty-State Survey," 32 Yale Law & Policy Review 149 (2013)
• Children of Incarcerated Parents, National Conference of State Legislatures, March 2009