Wednesday, May 07, 2014

Odds and ends: Successes, failures, and general weirdness

›
Here are a few items that caught my attention this week but haven't made it into individual posts: Constitutional challenge to 'im...
8 comments:
Tuesday, May 06, 2014

LBB forum to discuss raising juvenile age, capital public defender, and school discipline

›
If you'll be in Austin on Friday, this forum sponsored by the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) will cover quite a few relevant, interestin...
6 comments:

More on Texas PREA compliance

›
In addition to Grits' brief writeup , a couple of MSM reporters covered yesterday's Texas House County Affairs Committee hearing reg...
3 comments:

CCA: 'Reckless,' 'negligent' prosecutors don't merit sanction by courts

›
The prosecutors association's weekly case summary from last week includes this summary of a new case from the Texas Court of Criminal A...
9 comments:

SCOTUS: 5th Circuit too quick to take cops' word in police shooting case

›
The US Supreme Court this week reversed the 5th Circuit's grant of summary judgment to Bellaire, TX police Sergeant Jeffrey Cotton who ...
10 comments:
Monday, May 05, 2014

How best to reduce county jail incarceration for low-level misdemeanors?

›
At the House County Affairs Committee today, legislators and multiple witnesses appeared to believe that, rather than making citations inste...
12 comments:

Arson, shaken baby forensics called into question

›
A couple of recent academic papers related to areas of disputed forensic science deserve readers' attention. Here are links to the paper...
1 comment:

Potential civil liability for failing to comply with Prison Rape Elimination Act

›
Check out written testimony to the Texas House County Affairs Committee from Texas Criminal Justice Coalition policy attorney Elizabeth Hen...
3 comments:

Sex offender registration shouldn't include 'kidnapping' in child custody disputes

›
At the Austin Statesman, Chuck Lindell reports (" Texan with no sex crime history protests 'sex offender' label ," May 3) ...
3 comments:
Sunday, May 04, 2014

Few guards face charges in cell-phone contraband cases

›
The Texas Tribune's Edgar Walters today revisited the question of why Texas prison guards are rarely charged in cell-phone contraband c...
20 comments:
Saturday, May 03, 2014

Virginia, Utah, require warrants for phone location data, Tennessee bill awaiting gov's signature

›
More states have approved legislation requiring law enforcement to obtain warrants to track cell-phone location data, measure that passed t...
3 comments:
Friday, May 02, 2014

'Waiving the criminal justice system'

›
There's an interesting looking paper on SSRN from a UT-Austin law prof, a  public defender and a law student with the same title as thi...
10 comments:

Committee to evaluate implementation of cite-and-summons statute

›
The Texas House County Affairs Committee on Monday will consider a couple of criminal-justice related interim charges that may interest Gri...
2 comments:
Thursday, May 01, 2014

Should Texas create a statewide public defender for forensic writs?

›
Texas should consider creating a statewide public defender office to handle habeas corpus writs related to flawed forensics, an adviser to G...

Corrupt South Texas drug cops sentenced

›
A team of corrupt Hidalgo County deputies and the son of the former Hidalgo Sheriff were sentenced to federal prison this week, concluding a...
4 comments:

Montgomery Sheriff crashes drone, again, this time sunk in Lake Conroe

›
When the Montgomery County Sheriff first purchased a quarter-million dollar drone for law enforcement use, they crashed it into a SWAT vehic...
11 comments:
Wednesday, April 30, 2014

TPPF in the news: Reducing technical revocations, clarifying recidivism data

›
A couple of recent Texas Public Policy Foundation reports got good press coverage this week: Texas Tribune: " Lawmakers urged to refo...
11 comments:

Travis County Jail recorded attorney-client phone calls, gave them to prosecutors

›
When the Travis County Jail installed video visitation technology and ceased the practice of in-person visitation, they promised that attorn...
7 comments:
Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Estimating innocence among defendants sentenced to death row

›
Lots of press today about a new article from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled " Rate of false conviction ...
9 comments:

Judge: Driver Responsibility surcharge unfair, 'unconstitutional'

›
Another judge critical of Texas' Driver Responsibility surcharge, via a Lubbock TV station : Lubbock County Justice of the Peace Jim H...
6 comments: