Winehole23
04-18-2016, 12:58 PM
The Office of Court Administration has released its annual statistical report (http://www.txcourts.gov/media/1308021/2015-ar-statistical-print.pdf) on the Texas judiciary for 2015. Here are a few highlights that caught my eye.
First, as we hear Chicken-Little-like cries of crime waves, particularly out of Dallas, it's worth considering the big picture regarding crime statewide in Texas: "The number of new misdemeanor cases filed has fallen 26 percent from the peak in 2007 and is the lowest number since 1996. The number of new felony cases filed was 11 percent lower than the peak in 2007, but had increased slightly each of the last 3 years." So, despite the fact that prosecutors continued to file cases at greater rates even after crime and arrests dropped (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-got-your-big-government-right-here.html), the number of case filings is finally succumbing somewhat to long-term crime-reduction trends.
Despite John Pfaff's observation (http://harvardjol.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HLL104_crop1.pdf) that drug cases make up a small percentage of those incarcerated in prison (16 percent in Texas), they make up a more significant portion of the felony caseload: "Drug cases accounted for 31 percent of the 196,316 new felony cases filed" in FY 2015.
In a trend that Texas judges have attributed to the cursed Driver Responsibility surcharge (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/01/declining-dwi-convictions-and.html)," The number of misdemeanor DWI cases filed was the lowest number in at least 30 years and was nearly half of the number filed in 1985."
Pot arrests are leveling off: "After peaking in 2014, the number of new misdemeanor drug possession cases filed (80,518) fell 4 percent to the lowest level since 2006." (Ed. note: nearly all these cases were for marijuana possession.)
And the mysterious reduction in traffic tickets issued statewide (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/01/dont-be-surprised-number-of-texas.html) continues: "The number of new Class C misdemeanor traffic and parking cases filed fell 36 percent from its peak in 2006 and was its lowest in more than 30 years. The number of new non-traffic Class C misdemeanor cases filed was 37 percent lower than its peak in 2008 and was the lowest since 1991." (Louisiana is facing the same trend, except there traffic-ticket revenue pays for their public defender system and the decline has thrown their entire criminal-court system into crisis (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/us/in-louisiana-the-poor-lack-legal-defense.html?_r=1).)
Remarkably, despite Texas shuttering youth prisons and reducing the state's overall juvenile prison population by more than three quarters since 2007, "The number of new juvenile cases filed fell 40 percent from a peak in 2007 and is the lowest level since 1996." So juvenile decarceration in Texas coincided with a dramatic drop in juvenile crime and a ballooning juvenile population. That's really quite astonishing.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2016/04/misdemeanor-juvenile-case-filings.html
First, as we hear Chicken-Little-like cries of crime waves, particularly out of Dallas, it's worth considering the big picture regarding crime statewide in Texas: "The number of new misdemeanor cases filed has fallen 26 percent from the peak in 2007 and is the lowest number since 1996. The number of new felony cases filed was 11 percent lower than the peak in 2007, but had increased slightly each of the last 3 years." So, despite the fact that prosecutors continued to file cases at greater rates even after crime and arrests dropped (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/02/i-got-your-big-government-right-here.html), the number of case filings is finally succumbing somewhat to long-term crime-reduction trends.
Despite John Pfaff's observation (http://harvardjol.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/HLL104_crop1.pdf) that drug cases make up a small percentage of those incarcerated in prison (16 percent in Texas), they make up a more significant portion of the felony caseload: "Drug cases accounted for 31 percent of the 196,316 new felony cases filed" in FY 2015.
In a trend that Texas judges have attributed to the cursed Driver Responsibility surcharge (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/01/declining-dwi-convictions-and.html)," The number of misdemeanor DWI cases filed was the lowest number in at least 30 years and was nearly half of the number filed in 1985."
Pot arrests are leveling off: "After peaking in 2014, the number of new misdemeanor drug possession cases filed (80,518) fell 4 percent to the lowest level since 2006." (Ed. note: nearly all these cases were for marijuana possession.)
And the mysterious reduction in traffic tickets issued statewide (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2013/01/dont-be-surprised-number-of-texas.html) continues: "The number of new Class C misdemeanor traffic and parking cases filed fell 36 percent from its peak in 2006 and was its lowest in more than 30 years. The number of new non-traffic Class C misdemeanor cases filed was 37 percent lower than its peak in 2008 and was the lowest since 1991." (Louisiana is facing the same trend, except there traffic-ticket revenue pays for their public defender system and the decline has thrown their entire criminal-court system into crisis (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/us/in-louisiana-the-poor-lack-legal-defense.html?_r=1).)
Remarkably, despite Texas shuttering youth prisons and reducing the state's overall juvenile prison population by more than three quarters since 2007, "The number of new juvenile cases filed fell 40 percent from a peak in 2007 and is the lowest level since 1996." So juvenile decarceration in Texas coincided with a dramatic drop in juvenile crime and a ballooning juvenile population. That's really quite astonishing.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2016/04/misdemeanor-juvenile-case-filings.html