Independence Day open thread

Happy Independence Day, gentle readers. Use the comments as an open thread to celebrate freedom and liberty by remembering those without them.

Otherwise, a few housekeeping odds and ends worth mentioning:

Thanks to Michele Deitch for posting a couple of documents last week that her students produced after a symposium in Houston on "Police, Jails and Vulnerable People." Let's link to them again just to make sure folks saw them:

• Ideas for diverting people with mental illness from the justice system
• New white paper on pretrial release and bail reform in Texas

And if you didn't have time during the week to listen to TPPF's Derek Cohen's discussion of sentencing enhancements, go here to revisit it. Thanks Derek, for taking time to chat.

This Grits item comparing Judge Elsa Alcala to a "black-robed, Latina John the Baptist" got picked up by the Marshall Project's daily email and got a lot of attention. Given how few people follow the Court of Criminal Appeals, I was surprised so many folks reached out to me about that topic. Read it if you missed it.

Finally, the Texas Tribune's crowdfunding campaign to support investigative journalism on police shootings is quite a bit shy of its goal. I hope they make it. If you haven't, give them some love.

Happy Independence Day!