Winehole23
03-28-2012, 01:16 PM
Governments involve themselves in many areas - often too many - but Texans agree that public safety must be job No. 1 for state and local government.
However, ensuring public safety need not entail breaking the bank. In the last couple of years, Houston has taken innovative steps that are already reducing crime and public safety costs.
While any crime is too much, Houston's murder rate fell 26 percent in 2011, reaching its lowest level since 1965. More broadly, the city's violent crime rate declined 7 percent in 2011. This crime reduction has occurred simultaneously with a drop in both the local and state incarceration rates. As recently as 2008, the Harris County Jail occasionally held up to 12,000 inmates. Today, the jail population has plummeted to about 8,500.
Consequently, Harris County taxpayers no longer must pony up $31 million to send overflow inmates to jails as far away as Louisiana. Overtime costs that recently exceeded $40 million per year have been slashed, and the sheriff's office has asked for a flat budget for the next fiscal year.
On the state level, Texas has seen more than a 9 percent drop in both its incarceration and crime rates since 2005.
There are several reasons for the sharp decline in the Harris County jail population.
First, the district attorney and sheriff's office worked together to implement an expedited procedure for identifying illegal immigrants charged with felonies and promptly turning them over to the federal government for deportation.
Second, the district attorney's office joined most other large Texas counties in prosecuting trace drug possession cases as misdemeanors rather than state jail felonies.
Appropriately, police still have discretion to make an arrest, but this policy promotes cost-effectiveness by shifting the emphasis toward treatment and freeing up law enforcement resources to focus on violent crime.
Those with more than a scintilla of a controlled substance and those suspected of drug dealing rightfully continue to be charged as felons.
Moreover, changes on the horizon will further enhance public safety and control costs.
This month, Judge Jan Krocker (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jan+Krocker%22)'s mental health court will begin hearing cases. The Harris County Felony Mental Health Court focuses on nonviolent offenders and will not accept those charged with a violent or sex offense.
In jurisdictions from the Bronx to Orange County, Calif., mental health courts have saved tens of millions of dollars while reducing repeat crimes. Tarrant County's mental health court has reduced recidivism among its participants to a remarkable 10 percent.
Also, the city of Houston's announcement in February that it will open a sobering center promises to provide law enforcement with a less costly alternative to jail for those arrested on public intoxication charges.
However, more can be done. For example, Harris County is not among the jurisdictions taking advantage of a state law enacted in 2007 that allows police to issue citations and notices to appear for low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors, including a couple of ounces or less of marijuana.
Harris County should also re-examine unimplemented suggestions in a 2005 JMI Consulting (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22JMI+Consulting%22) report on the Harris County Jail that could result in more efficient processing of pretrial detainees. In early January 2012, individuals awaiting trial accounted for some 73 percent of the jail population.
While pretrial release should not be an option for those charged with crimes such as murder, common sense approaches for lower-level suspects include reduced bond schedule amounts for low-risk detainees and electronic monitoring.
Harris County has come a long way in just a few years working toward a system that ensures the dangerous are incarcerated and provides a more varied toolbox of public safety solutions for those who can be safely supervised and reformed in the community.
Increasingly, the public and policymakers understand that if we simply throw the book at everyone, we will no longer have a library.
Houstonians should be proud that their city remains a tough-on-crime jurisdiction, but also an increasingly smart one.
Levin is director of the Center for Effective Justice (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Center+for+Effective+Justice%22) at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Texas+Public+Policy+Foundation%22), a nonprofit, free-market research institute based in Austin. He is a leader of the foundation's Right on Crime initiative.
http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Crime-is-down-and-so-is-the-cost-of-fighting-it-3414040.php
However, ensuring public safety need not entail breaking the bank. In the last couple of years, Houston has taken innovative steps that are already reducing crime and public safety costs.
While any crime is too much, Houston's murder rate fell 26 percent in 2011, reaching its lowest level since 1965. More broadly, the city's violent crime rate declined 7 percent in 2011. This crime reduction has occurred simultaneously with a drop in both the local and state incarceration rates. As recently as 2008, the Harris County Jail occasionally held up to 12,000 inmates. Today, the jail population has plummeted to about 8,500.
Consequently, Harris County taxpayers no longer must pony up $31 million to send overflow inmates to jails as far away as Louisiana. Overtime costs that recently exceeded $40 million per year have been slashed, and the sheriff's office has asked for a flat budget for the next fiscal year.
On the state level, Texas has seen more than a 9 percent drop in both its incarceration and crime rates since 2005.
There are several reasons for the sharp decline in the Harris County jail population.
First, the district attorney and sheriff's office worked together to implement an expedited procedure for identifying illegal immigrants charged with felonies and promptly turning them over to the federal government for deportation.
Second, the district attorney's office joined most other large Texas counties in prosecuting trace drug possession cases as misdemeanors rather than state jail felonies.
Appropriately, police still have discretion to make an arrest, but this policy promotes cost-effectiveness by shifting the emphasis toward treatment and freeing up law enforcement resources to focus on violent crime.
Those with more than a scintilla of a controlled substance and those suspected of drug dealing rightfully continue to be charged as felons.
Moreover, changes on the horizon will further enhance public safety and control costs.
This month, Judge Jan Krocker (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jan+Krocker%22)'s mental health court will begin hearing cases. The Harris County Felony Mental Health Court focuses on nonviolent offenders and will not accept those charged with a violent or sex offense.
In jurisdictions from the Bronx to Orange County, Calif., mental health courts have saved tens of millions of dollars while reducing repeat crimes. Tarrant County's mental health court has reduced recidivism among its participants to a remarkable 10 percent.
Also, the city of Houston's announcement in February that it will open a sobering center promises to provide law enforcement with a less costly alternative to jail for those arrested on public intoxication charges.
However, more can be done. For example, Harris County is not among the jurisdictions taking advantage of a state law enacted in 2007 that allows police to issue citations and notices to appear for low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors, including a couple of ounces or less of marijuana.
Harris County should also re-examine unimplemented suggestions in a 2005 JMI Consulting (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22JMI+Consulting%22) report on the Harris County Jail that could result in more efficient processing of pretrial detainees. In early January 2012, individuals awaiting trial accounted for some 73 percent of the jail population.
While pretrial release should not be an option for those charged with crimes such as murder, common sense approaches for lower-level suspects include reduced bond schedule amounts for low-risk detainees and electronic monitoring.
Harris County has come a long way in just a few years working toward a system that ensures the dangerous are incarcerated and provides a more varied toolbox of public safety solutions for those who can be safely supervised and reformed in the community.
Increasingly, the public and policymakers understand that if we simply throw the book at everyone, we will no longer have a library.
Houstonians should be proud that their city remains a tough-on-crime jurisdiction, but also an increasingly smart one.
Levin is director of the Center for Effective Justice (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Center+for+Effective+Justice%22) at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=opinion%2Foutlook&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Texas+Public+Policy+Foundation%22), a nonprofit, free-market research institute based in Austin. He is a leader of the foundation's Right on Crime initiative.
http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Crime-is-down-and-so-is-the-cost-of-fighting-it-3414040.php