- A proposed resolution this Thursday at the Austin City Council directs city staff to draft regulations for municipal court judges significantly limiting when people may be arrested for nonpayment of Class C fines.
- Whether Dallas can purchase the shuttered Dawson State Jail depends on the price.
- McLennan DA Abel Reyna may have to recuse himself from prosecuting the Twin Peaks biker cases because of a civil suit against him. Normally prosecutors have absolute immunity and can't be sued, but Reyna likely opened himself up by directing the police investigation on the ground and usurping the officers' role.
- The Christian Science Monitor has a piece on the Laura and John Arnold Foundation's risk assessment model, for which Grits harbors high hopes. Related: From USA Today, "Justice system too costly for the unconvicted." Also: from the Houston Press, "If Mom doesn't pick up her phone, you might end up stuck in jail."
- The chairman-elect of the Texas Association of Business had a column in the El Paso Times urging the Lege to raise the age of adult criminal culpability in Texas from 17-18.
- Amanda Woog's Texas Justice Initiative data project continues to receive attention. See a lengthy Huntsville Item story on the topic.
- For the first time, proposals for criminal justice reform made it into both national party platforms, noted the Brennan Center.
- Out of New Mexico, read what happens when a long-time District Attorney decides to prosecute police officers over bad shootings.
- How traffic tickets can destroy indigent people's lives. See also this essay from the Boston Review on the history of debtors prisons in American jurisprudence.
- SCOTUS last term continued the decades-long trend toward gutting the Fourth Amendment like a fish.
- The jury trial is dead. You're shocked, I know.
- Your correspondent last week made some LED-lettering signs for our friends at the Austin Justice Coalition to use at protests and events. I thought they turned out pretty well:
Grits, is there any data source to determine how many 17 year olds are actually sent to prison at that age? How many get regular probation? How many get deferred adjudication?
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ReplyDeleteBrandenburg's storey can be said for all police dept's in the U.S.The police are gangs and the DA's are one of the same. When this injustice is allowed to prevail rebellion is inevitable. The grand jury system is a joke stacked in police favor. I can not blame BLM for their actions.
Overall, 8:27, I believe John Whitmire said the total cases for this cohort run in the 26,000 per year range, most for small stuff. Not too many enter prison at 17. In fy 2017, just 155 17 year olds went to prison, although some of the 2,088 18 and 19 year olds were imprisoned for crimes committed at 17, so we don't have an exact figure. I know no source for probation/DA by age.
ReplyDeleteThat said, once someone is on adult probation, revocation to prison later becomes a possibility that's forestalled by RTA. How many went to prison on revocations based on charges from an offense at 17, I have no way to estimate concretely. But I bet it's a non-trivial number.
The other big deal on RTA isn't just about incarceration volume, though. Because of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, county jails will need to retrofit if they don't change it. So there's some institutional incentive on this to act, it's not just a do-gooder decarceration thing.
So what's the scoop on the Twin Peaks episode? Seems like it will be a never-ending investigation spanning years. Wait... Forcing plea deals. Got it...
ReplyDeleteTwin Peaks litigation includes fighting over what the law ought to disclose, but won't. That's all I can say anymore.
ReplyDeleteTwin Peaks litigation includes fighting over what the law ought to disclose, but won't. That's all I can say anymore.
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