TX GOP 2018 Party Platform: criminal justice reform

[Winehole23]

#cjreform in the Texas GOP 2018 party platform


Grits is back from the Texas state GOP convention in San Antonio, where Just Liberty had a booth from which we promoted a number of criminal-justice reform planks in the party platform (https://www.texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PLATFORM-for-voting.pdf). Delegates approved quite a few #cjreform items worthy of readers' attention:




Raise the Age. Calls on the Lege to raise the age of adult criminal culpability from 17 to 18.
End debtors prisons. The party wants to "end the incarceration of individuals because they cannot pay tickets, fines, and fees for Class C misdemeanors, including traffic citations."
Abolition of the Driver Responsibility Program. Includes a call to "immediately restore the driver licenses of the citizens whose licenses were suspended by the DRP and to cancel their debt."
Quicker processing of rape kits. The party wants crime labs sufficiently funded to reduce rape-kit processing times to 90 days.
Opposition to warrantless government surveillance. Two planks on this, one with general wording, and one calling on the Legislature to require a warrant for the government to access cell-phone location data.
Civil penalty for pot possession. The party endorsed reducing penalties for low-level marijuana possession from a Class B misdemeanor to a civil offense (essentially, a $100 ticket).
Remove cannabis from list of Schedule 1 drugs. This was a plank aimed at Congress.
Medical marijuana. The party wants to "allow doctors to determine the appropriate use of cannabis for certified patients."
Militarization of police. Calls for "reporting and training standards" for military equipment obtained by police from the federal 1033 program, as well as a requirement that the elected governing body approve any application to the program with a formal vote.
Indigent defense. Calls on the Legislature to fully fund indigent criminal defense.

Moreover, several items that were in the 2016 platform made it in again:


No arrests for Class C misdemeanors (except when necessary to prevent family violence)
Require a criminal conviction for asset forfeiture
Eliminate red-light cameras and other photo-enforcement systems


http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/06/cjreform-in-texas-gop-2018-party.html?spref=tw

[boutons_deux]

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/06/cjreform-in-texas-gop-2018-party.html?spref=tw

Too Good To Be True (as eventual TX law and regs)

[Winehole23]

not at all. the fact of being adopted as part of the Texas GOP platform means there's a good chance some of this will eventually pass.

believe it or not, boutons, Texas is a leader in criminal justice reform.

[boutons_deux]

not at all. the fact of being adopted as part of the Texas GOP platform means there's a good chance some of this will eventually pass.

believe it or not, boutons, Texas is a leader in criminal justice reform.

evidence of such leadership?

IBIWISI

[Winehole23]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/texas-leads-the-way-in-needed-criminal-justice-reforms/2014/01/28/83919b72-879d-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html?utm_term=.9bc695bc25b6

[Winehole23]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/prison-reform-is-bigger-in-texas

[Winehole23]

you have the never giving Republicans credit for anything disease.

face it, it's an objective cognitive problem.

[pgardn]

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/06/cjreform-in-texas-gop-2018-party.html?spref=tw

Could be construed as letting the Libertarian leanings of party members blow off steam...

We will see.
I can’t see Greg Abbott crowing about most of this as a victory for conservatives. Maybe he sneaks in something about wild eyed pot users being targeted and shot by NRA members. ... if he had to explain some of this to your average Texas conservative.

But, an interesting read anyways.

[boutons_deux]

you have the never giving Republicans credit for anything disease.

face it, it's an objective cognitive problem.

If the (TX) Repugs do anything positive, progressive, it's because they are paid to do it, or it's a (unwanted but unavoidable) side-effect of doing something bad, regressvie, and in EVERY case, it's a rare exception proving the rule: Repugs fuck up, for money, everything they touch.

[Winehole23]

libertarians and conservatives alike are moved by obvious flaws in the criminal justice system.

some even support progressive DA's like Larry Krasner, not because they're paid to do so, but because money is saved, public safety is better served and people are freer as a result.

“
I personally think our criminal justice system is thoroughly rotten and it has a number of features that, in my judgment, have so undermined the legitimacy of the criminal justice system and so sharply tilted the playing field in favor of prosecutors and against defendants that is has deprived our criminal justice system of its integrity and its legitimacy,” Clark Neily, the vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute, tells The American Conservative.https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/da-taking-radical-steps-shaking-up-phillys-criminal-justice-system/

[Winehole23]

1033068817788878848

[Winehole23]

TDCJ lied about how much AC would cost:


When TDCJ was arguing before the federal courts against having to require air conditioning in the Wallace Pack Unit, they claimed it would be unreasonably expensive, estimating it would cost more than $20 million. Later, reported the Texas Tribune (https://www.texastribune.org/2018/08/29/texas-prison-heat-air-conditioning-cost-drop/), "Before settling the lawsuit, the department conducted its own research and the cost dropped to $11 million." At yesterday's House Corrections Committee hearing, however, TDCJ executive director Bryan Collier said the agency now estimates the cost to install air conditioning at $4 million, a more than 80 percent reduction from their original estimate. (Notably, the agency spent more than $7 million fighting the lawsuit!) The agency is rapidly earning (https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/06/denial-not-just-river-in-egypt-but-also.html) a reputation (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/07/isolated-incident-at-tdcj-means-things.html) for promoting false, self-interested information, not just to the press and the public but in this case, to the courts.​https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/08/credit-to-dallas-da-on-royoliver.html

[boutons_deux]

TDCJ lied about how much AC would cost:

​https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/08/credit-to-dallas-da-on-royoliver.html

TPR had a show a couple days on this TDCJ bullshit.

[koriwhat]

here's a great reform... no more luxuries like gym equipment, blankets, pillows, tv, etc. just a good ol' concrete floor to sleep on, some water, and grits daily or oatmeal. that's it!

[Winehole23]

judges bridling at bail reform is expensive:


As mentioned earlier (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/09/tarrant-da-told-pro-cjreform-tea-party.html), the Harris County Jail, with more than 10,000 inmates, is larger than the prison systems (https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p16.pdf) in 19 states. But not all of those people are housed in Harris County! The Sheriff is mulling spending more per inmate to house people in Fort Bend County (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Harris-County-mulls-deal-with-Fort-Bend-county-13213611.php) instead of in Louisiana.


To be clear: The entire cost of contracts to house inmates out of county may be attributed to failures in pretrial detention policy. Harris County judges pressed the county to spend millions of dollars fighting bail reform rather than issue personal bonds to low-risk defendants, a point attorney Pat McCann made at the end of the story.https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/09/inmate-outsourcing-caused-by-judges.html

[Winehole23]

city by city:


On Thursday, a federal judge ruled against Dallas County’s strict reliance on cash bail, saying it discriminates against poor people and violates their equal protection rights.

https://www.texasobserver.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1edit_dallas_secret_bond-web_april_2018-barajas-759x468.jpg

About 70 percent of people incarcerated in the Dallas County jail are there because they can't afford bail.
MICHAEL BARAJAS



If police arrest and charge you with a misdemeanor in Dallas County, and you can’t afford bail, you’ll likely be stuck in jail somewhere between four to 10 days, until your first court hearing. If you’re charged with a felony and don’t have the money, you could be waiting two to three months in lockup until that first appearance before a judge.

On Thursday, another federal court in Texas declared that such a strict reliance on cash bail discriminates against poor people and violates their equal protection rights. U.S. District Judge David Godbey ruled (https://cdn.buttercms.com/zKvsPy2rQMy2LftYlBTQ) that Dallas County “automatically” jails people who can’t afford amounts set by the county’s fixed bail schedule — essentially, a menu matching price-for-release with various crimes and types of arrestees. Godbey called the county’s current practices “constitutionally deficient.”

“Wealthy arrestees — regardless of the crime they are accused of — who are offered secured bail can pay the requested amount and leave. Indigent arrestees in the same position cannot,” wrote Godbey, a George W. Bush appointee.

Ruling that the cash bail practices cause “irreparable harm,” Godbey ordered Dallas County to make changes within 30 days. Essentially, Godbey’s injunction (https://cdn.buttercms.com/h2nAHYd7RySMsh5viIVS) requires judges to fully consider someone’s ability to pay bail if they’re still in jail within 48 hours of arrest. If judges set a price the arrestee can’t afford, they’ll have to provide a written explanation.
https://www.texasobserver.org/civil-rights-groups-are-changing-bail-practices-in-texas-one-city-at-a-time/

[boutons_deux]

city by city:

https://www.texasobserver.org/civil-rights-groups-are-changing-bail-practices-in-texas-one-city-at-a-time/

why does anybody say Federal district judges aren't important, compared to Federal appeals court judges?

A Trash/Federalist Soc hack district judge politician-in-robes would have ruled this case the other way. Crushing the poor is part of the oligarchy strategy.

That's that's why Repugs are rushing Federal appeals, district judges through the Senate in groups.

[Winehole23]

1050399555882242052

[SnakeBoy]

here's a great reform... no more luxuries like gym equipment, blankets, pillows, tv, etc. just a good ol' concrete floor to sleep on, some water, and grits daily or oatmeal. that's it!

Nah...oatmeal should only be given as a treat for good behavior.

[Winehole23]

1054039469169565698

[boutons_deux]

I note controlled substance is ANything on DEA schedule in shit hole TX

1 gram ( 1/28th ounce ), OK

2 grams, drug arrest/conviction on yr record and cant get a job, economically destroyed for decades

[Winehole23]

it's in both party platforms to de-escalate penalties. it could actually happen this time around.

will it? who knows.

Dem and GOP don't agree about much in Texas.

[Winehole23]

muni court debt jubilee in LA:

1054538646571732993

[benefactor]

it's in both party platforms to de-escalate penalties. it could actually happen this time around.

will it? who knows.

Dem and GOP don't agree about much in Texas.
Doubtful...especially in Texas. They love looking for reasons to lock people up.

[Winehole23]

the trend, believe it or not, is favorable.

Cutting spending and saving money are two things dem and GOP can agree in in Texas.

[boutons_deux]

the trend, believe it or not, is favorable.

Cutting spending and saving money are two things dem and GOP can agree in in Texas.

Repugs spending taxpayer money to jail people, esp non-whites, to enrich their donors in the for-profit prison business, LE unions, bail bonds industry is the strategy.

"I enrich you with taxpayer $100Ms, then you give me campaign funds, endorsements"

[Winehole23]

last year's news disagrees. de-incarceration has begun in earnest in Texas.


Texas will shutter more prisons this year than it has in any single year in history, a response to the state's tight budget and shrinking inmate population.

In the state's two-year budget, which lawmakers approved in May (https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/05/27/lawmakers-pass-budget-offers-clenched-fist-aiding-risk-texans-abused-kids), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was ordered to close four prison facilities by Sept. 1. When all four are closed, tough-on-crime Texas will have shuttered eight prisons in just six years.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-legislature/2017/07/05/crime-incarceration-rates-falling-texas-closes-record-number-lock-ups

[Winehole23]

a sliding scale for fees and fines seems to be working:

1055213403520798720

[Winehole23]

1057443339887407105

[Winehole23]

Too Good To Be True (as eventual TX law and regs)read it and weep:


Abstract

This article surveys the important reforms adopted by the Texas legislature to advance the quality of forensic science that form what we call the "infrastructure" of forensic science in the state. In all, the legislature put into place six key components that now form the Texas forensic science infrastructure: (1) the Texas Forensic Science Commission; (2) the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit (a stakeholder committee that hosts discussion meetings and training programs); (3) the Michael Morton Act, which instituted expansive prosecutorial disclosure from pre-plea to post-conviction; (4) the "junk science" writ, a habeas petition that allows challenges to the forensic science used to obtain a conviction if new evidence undermines the validity of the evidence, (5) the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, a statewide public defender for habeas petitions; and (6) state laws requiring the preservation and testing of biological evidence.

The article also describes two local innovations that have transformed the roles each institution plays in the criminal justice system and have become national models. The first innovation emerged from the shambles of the scandal-ridden Houston Police Department Crime Laboratory in the early 2000s. In 2014, the Houston Forensic Science Center took over the laboratory's operations under the supervision of a board of directors consisting of community volunteers. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office originated the second innovation by establishing the country’s first Conviction Integrity Unit in 2007. Prosecutors who work in the Dallas County CIU, as well as those in the other CIUs now established in the state's other large cities, play important leadership roles in shaping state policies to prevent wrongful convictions and advance the practice of forensic science. Moreover, both of these local innovations have transformed the cultures in their respective institutions from highly adversarial to ones that embrace collaboration with the defense bar.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2965851

[Winehole23]

DJT comes out in favor of sentencing reform:


The reform agenda has been shepherded by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor. Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, was sentenced to two years in federal prison on charges of witness tampering, tax evasion, and illegal campaign donations, which helps explains his son’s political sensitivity on the incarceration issue, making it a personal priority in Trump’s first term.


Kushner has worked closely not just with conservative advocates, but with Democrats who are otherwise ideological enemies. He’s reached out personally to convicts and family members whose stories were publicized in the media. “Like many of the other leaders who are supporting this legislation, he was deeply impacted by his [family’s] experience,” says Jessica Jackson Sloan, national director of #cut50, a progressive criminal justice advocacy group. “It redefined what he thought of people who go to prison.”
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/tough-on-crime-comes-out-for-sentencing-reform/

[Winehole23]

really, nobody likes this?

[benefactor]

It's a good start for sure. We'll see if they are just tossing money/lip service at it or things really start to change.

[boutons_deux]

really, nobody likes this?

blind squirrel situation.

I assume no good-faith from Trash.

So, best case, I'm sure he doesn't know WTF he's supporting, and more typically, somebody gave him a nasty hidden motive.

[benefactor]

blind squirrel situation.

I assume no good-faith from Trash.

So, best case, I'm sure he doesn't know WTF he's supporting, and more typically, somebody gave him a nasty hidden motive.
Can you stop acting like Walter Peck for five seconds? I think almost everyone can agree this is a good thing.

[boutons_deux]

Can you stop acting like Walter Peck for five seconds? I think almost everyone can agree this is a good thing.

I didn't say it was bad. RIF

[BD24]

Interesting stuff tbh. Would be happy to see most of this implemented. Makes me a little less embarrassed that the state re-elected Ted fucking cruz

[pgardn]

Everyone has figured out it costs too much money.

I bet the red team uses the 2nd chance and third chance aspect of the ideas as a major talking point during political events.
Not.

Well, maybe in the whiter, toothless regions of Trump towns where drug use got out of hand.

[boutons_deux]

I assume no good-faith from Trash.
How Liberals Got Seduced By Trump’s Gifts To Private Prisons (https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/23/how-liberals-got-seduced-by-trumps-gifts-to-private-prisons/)

https://uziiw38pmyg1ai60732c4011-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/dropzone/2018/08/1266x2250.jpeg.289ff985e1f1491f97940307738abc03.la rge_.jpeg

While all cuts to prison sentences are welcome,

the bill does zero to stop how many people actually go to prison.

The profit scam of arrests and prosecutions can continue without a hiccup.

Mandatory minimum sentences aren’t addressed either,

so those put into prison will be facing very long roads to freedom regardless.

The act will only deal with federal prisons, which only contains 13% of the population.

To no one’s surprise, illegal immigrants are not included in this act.

Long-term prisoners, deemed high-risk or slapped with certain sentences also get no room to maneuver.

The scope and funding of the bill is also quite narrow overall, with a mere 50 million being provided per year to address this crisis.

Prisoners will be released based on a “Risk Assessment System”. Activists are already pointing to the criteria for this system being correlated with race and class.

Every single one of Trump’s policies come back to making America’s streets whiter.

In other words, Trump’s Get Out Of Jail Free cards will be giving the same breaks to people who already get breaks from the system, those who are rich and white.

“Risk Assessment System” will be developed by the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who might be even more racist than Trump himself.

“The Act allows for the Attorney General to develop policies for the warden of each BOP facility

to enter into partnerships with private organizations

to provide training, employment, and other services.

Privatizing in-prison programming,

halfway houses or

electronic monitoring

raises concerns about a lack of governmental oversight that could lead to abuse, exploitation, and the potential appearance of a quid pro quo relationship between BOP and private companies.

Funding even more contracts between for-profit actors and BOP facilities may

detract from the primary goal of rehabilitation

because private companies have a profit-seeking and profit-maximizing motive.”

Some amount of relief on the back-end of sentences is only one portion of the bill.

Further power to the private prison industry and the attorney general is another.

“Missing from this piece of legislation is the crucial issue of sentencing reform –

as distinct from prison reform.

While prison reform deals with how people who are already incarcerated are treated and may give them some faster pathways out,

sentencing reform is the piece of the puzzle that dictates how many new people are going into prison – and for how long.

Most experts say the high US rate of incarceration is a result of the dramatic increases to sentencing length that took place after crime waves in the 1970s and 80s.

However, that’s an issue that Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and the White House, are less sold on.”

Trump’s prison reform then acts like a sort of rewards card for committed customers.

Trump is just bringing the momentum to the halt with measly reforms.

The liberal critique of Trump squarely misses the force that drives him, and all forces of capitalism: profit.

This bill does nothing, absolutely nothing to change how many people enter into the for-profit system.

through the guise of some relief on the back end of a few sentences, the prison system can continue to be privatized, and therefore expanded.

Just as the air, water, schools and health care can continue to be privatized under neoliberal capital.

When it comes to prisons, privatization is especially dangerous because

prisoners lack no protections and can be treated like slaves as a result.

Additionally, the incentive to put people in prison becomes greater and greater.

Concern for public safety (let alone safety of the prisoners) is outside any debate.

It will be private profit, not public safety, that will determine who is imprisoned under this administration.

After Donald Trump’s election, the two largest prison companies (GEO Group and Core Civic) stocks went up by a third. (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/trumps-immigration-crackdown-is-a-boom-time-for-private-prisons/)

ICE alone is going to need 2.7 billion from Congress in 2018 for holding its prisoners.

Compare that to the mere 50 million annually that The FIRST STEP act is giving.

Clearly there’s a lot more money to be gained in detention than rehabilitation.

Never trust Donald Trump.

He has ruthlessly expanded the police state in this country.

For this is late-stage capitalism.

There was a reason the Obama administration cut off private prisons from the Department of Justice.

It was because across the board they failed human rights standards whenever they were put in practice.

make a greater profit when they spend less on the prisoners once they have them,

which is why they are treated so horribly.

our prison system is much like everything else in our oligarchy,

it serves the 1%.

Questions of justice usually come only after profit is maximized, and this bill is no exception.

In Trump’s survival of the fittest dystopia,

there is a way out for the few,

a way down for the many, and

a profit to be made for a handful.

Trump doesn’t care where you are, as long as he can make money off you.

The American police state, which wreaks havoc at home and abroad, is on the road to privatization.

Even the best of con men can be seduced by the mighty dollar, and

it is once again capital that has the last laugh.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/23/how-liberals-got-seduced-by-trumps-gifts-to-private-prisons/ (https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/23/how-liberals-got-seduced-by-trumps-gifts-to-private-prisons/)

[Winehole23]

if you want to see prisons get worse, privatize em.

[boutons_deux]

if you want to see prisons get worse, privatize em.

More maggots and mold found in Michigan's prison food


https://www.metrotimes.com/table-and-bar/archives/2017/11/08/more-maggots-and-mold-found-in-michigans-prison-food

[Th'Pusher]

Mitch McConnell should drop the lame excuses. Let the Senate vote on bipartisan justice, prison reforms.

BY HERALD-LEADER EDITORIAL BOARD

November 23, 2018 08:01 PM
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s excuse that the Senate lacks time to consider bipartisan prison and sentencing reforms rings lame, especially in a season when many Americans are working brutally long hours to meet the demands of their jobs.

More likely, McConnell wants to avoid a public fight inside his Republican caucus, a fight sparked by retrograde Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas and others unwilling to do the smallest thing to trim the huge costs — in dollars and human potential — that mass incarceration inflicts on our country.

McConnell should let the Senate vote. Given the support the bill has on both sides of the aisle, getting the 60 votes to end a filibuster should not be hard.

Then this Congress could claim a genuine bipartisan achievement.

And McConnell, master of obstruction, could claim some credibility for his recent appeal for bipartisanship from the Democratic House that takes office in January.


Speaker Paul Ryan says the Senate version of the First Step Act would zip through the House. President Donald Trump says he is eager to sign it. The package of modest reforms has support on the right from evangelical Christians, some big Republican donors, including the Kochs, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and on the left from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Given that the United States imprisons a greater share of its people than any nation, the First Step Act is just that, a first step. But it’s taken years of debate and compromise to reach the consensus behind even that first step.

If this Congress fails to approve the bill, the new Congress would have to start all over. It could take still more years to reach another compromise and consensus. Meanwhile, real people, real families, real communities are suffering in ways that both Republicans and Democrats now serving in Congress are ready to relieve.

Contrary to opponents’ scary warnings, the First Step Act would not flood the streets with felons. It applies only to federal courts and prisons which account for 181,185 of the more than 2 million Americans who are in prison or jails.

If it becomes law, maybe 7,000 people now in prison could win release, through retroactive increases in time off for good behavior and a reduction in the punishment for crack cocaine offenses. Congress in 2010 reduced the huge disparity in punishments between crack and powdered cocaine. Because crack was more prevalent in black neighborhoods, the law had produced an imbalance that’s held up as evidence of race-based injustice.


In the future, federal judges would have the authority to skirt mandatory minimum sentences for more nonviolent drug offenders; an estimated 2,000 people a year would be eligible. The bill reduces some mandatory sentences, the “three strikes penalty” and the number of people who could receive extra years for committing a crime while holding a gun

.It pumps $375 million into job training and rehab programs and gives inmates the chance to earn 10 days in halfway houses or in-home supervision for every 30 days spent in rehab and job training. (Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions slashed funding for halfway houses and dismantled efforts to improve education in federal prisons.)

The bill also enshrines in law what many consider basic decency, such as providing women with free sanitary supplies and not shackling them while giving birth and n

Read more here: https://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article222119940.html#storylink=cpy

[boutons_deux]

"trim the huge costs — in dollars and human potential — that mass incarceration inflicts on our country."

the CounterPunch article that I posted said this bill is not a money or human saver.

No sentencing reform, so keep locking up Ms of people for long time

AND

privatize more of the Federal prison operations (a tiny part USA's Incarceration Nation) which always means paying more and getting less.

Of course, Bitch McC is indefensible. I'm sure he is more interested in political gaming than he is in humanity, and surely he's got his eye on the many $Ms in donations to Repugs from the Prison Industrial Complex.

[Winehole23]

Mitch McConnell should drop the lame excuses. Let the Senate vote on bipartisan justice, prison reforms.Hear, hear!

[boutons_deux]

Tom Cotton Is Here To Ruin Prison Reform

The Arkansas Republican is working hard to blow up a bipartisan deal.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-cotton-prison-reform_us_5bfeda54e4b0388c1770b520?utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__112918&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__112918+CID_75aee81b 3aacb6fa88783236a3c9641b&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__112918

[boutons_deux]

Meet District Attorney Mark Gonzalez, Criminal Justice Reformer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8iMf78qeEg&feature=em-uploademail

[Winehole23]

Texans shouldn't be jailed for non-payment of traffic tickets. Passing a law to make it illegal is in both party platforms this legislative session.


When a defendant loses in small-claims court (it's not called that, anymore, but that's what it is), a JP typically orders monetary payment as judgment.


If the defendant cannot pay, jailing them is not allowed. Instead, plaintiffs must pursue debt collection using other methods, such as liens on property, turnover orders, sending the debt to commercial collections, etc..


We're left to wonder, why is debt to the government somehow such a big deal that it warrants incarceration of those who cannot pay? Clearly, non-carceral methods are sufficient for these same judges to declare "justice" done if the beneficiary of court-declared debt is a person, not the government.


The government has created a double standard to benefit itself. Ethical qualms about the private sector excessively squeezing the poor are routinely ignored in the public sector when it comes to criminal-justice debt, particularly Class C misdemeanor traffic fines.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/12/texas-courts-already-know-how-to-handle.html

[Winehole23]

Group sues Texas over the Driver Responsibility program that traps thousands of Texas in poverty:

https://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Group-sues-over-Texas-Driver-Responsibility-13444715.php

[Winehole23]

Misdemeanors ruin lives; increased prosecutorial discretion can change that:



That enormous misdemeanor process constitutes the bulk of the American criminal system. Thirteen million misdemeanor cases are filed annually — that’s 80 percent of all state criminal dockets. This is how our criminal system works most of the time, for the most people.


There are many ways that the police and prosecutors can improve the misdemeanor system, mostly by shrinking it. The police can deploy low-level arrests less often and in more targeted and strategic ways, as many community policing programs already do. And they can focus on reducing racial disparities.


Prosecutors should devote more time and resources to screening misdemeanors so that minor arrests do not become criminal charges so easily and so often. The ultimate aim — and the thing voters should demand in the next election — is to ease the flood of misdemeanor arrests and convictions that quietly derails millions of people’s lives every year and that exacerbates some of the worst injustices of our criminal system.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/opinion/police-prosecutors-misdemeanors.html

[boutons_deux]

"Police should ..."

"Prosecutors should ..."

good luck with that. The LE culture is as corrupt as BigFinance and the military.

arrests, confessions, convictions are how the LE "culture", for decades, proves, come election time, its worth to politicians, voters.

And nobody is "policing the (immune) police" and prosecutors. How many prosecutors lose jobs, get debarred for malpractice, even after eg the Innocence Project exonerates their victims, ansd/or prove that the prosecution withheld exonerating evidence in order to convict?

Any politicians proposing bills or regs, running for office, that "go easy on crime"?

Punishing people, hurting people are fundamental to American adversarial, dog-eat-dog Capitalist so-called Christian society.

If I'm The Punisher, I must be good, God loves me.

And Trash epitomizes that "ethic". His goal is not only to win a negotiation, a deal, a conflict, but also to hurt the other party.

10Ms of Americans, esp Bible-humping evangelicals, elected Trash to "hurt", to punish non-whites, non-males.

However, informative article. I learned that police, as well executing unarmed, innocent blacks for just about anything, are in some locales then entire judicial system.

[Winehole23]

"Police should ..."

"Prosecutors should ..."

good luck with that. The LE culture is as corrupt as BigFinance and the military.

arrests, confessions, convictions are how the LE "culture", for decades, proves, come election time, its worth to politicians, voters.

And nobody is "policing the (immune) police" and prosecutors. How many prosecutors lose jobs, get debarred for malpractice, even after eg the Innocence Project exonerates their victims, ansd/or prove that the prosecution withheld exonerating evidence in order to convict?

Any politicians proposing bills or regs, running for office, that "go easy on crime"?

Punishing people, hurting people are fundamental to American adversarial, dog-eat-dog Capitalist so-called Christian society.

If I'm The Punisher, I must be good, God loves me.

And Trash epitomizes that "ethic". His goal is not only to win a negotiation, a deal, a conflict, but also to hurt the other party.

10Ms of Americans, esp Bible-humping evangelicals, elected Trash to "hurt", to punish non-whites, non-males.

However, informative article. I learned that police, as well executing unarmed, innocent blacks for just about anything, are in some locales then entire judicial system. Texas has closed eight prisons in the last six years.

Why? Because the juice isn't worth the squeeze: costs too much, wrecks communities, no demonstrable benefit to public safety. Whether you're talking about state prisons or city/county jails the math is the same.

Btw, the motto is "smart on crime' and conservatives are using it too.

Facts are changing all around you, all the time; it's only your brain that's inert and never changes.

[boutons_deux]

Because the juice isn't worth the squeeze: costs too much,

... you should have stopped with the "co$t$",

because racist TX lawmakers simply don't GAF about the "communities" their LE wrecks the most: blacks, browns.

That's why they inhumanely cut $150M from pre-K, which overwhelmingly helps poor blacks and browns.

Conservatives "smart on crime" are eying the $$$ saved to give more tax cuts wealthy, business.

Humanity is not in their "math"

Your beloved TX assholes also have inhumanely denied expanding Medicaid ($$$) and inhumanely closed clinics (God told them to act on His vengeful behalf and screw poor people, esp women, because they are not godly people).

[Winehole23]

We're not all assholes and we're not all Republican assholes.

It won't be that way forever.

Political majorities and public policies change over time.

[boutons_deux]

We're not all assholes and we're not all Republican assholes.

It won't be that way forever.

Political majorities and public policies change over time.

In earlier times, maybe, maybe it was mythical times.

but those times are out of time

In USA, both parties are controlled by the oligarchy, eg, so-called progressive Obama's priority was saving Wall St, not Main st. Dems and Repugs only differ in degree not in kind.

USA, even the planet, is now the oligarchy's time.

The oligarchy's only objective is amassing unlimited Capital which buys them more power, to amass more Capital, no matter the external costs and destruction.

[Winehole23]

polling stations inside county jails?

https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/billtext/pdf/HB00656I.pdf#navpanes=0

[Winehole23]

here's nothing sacred about government debt. When Texans can't pay their Visa or cable bill, those companies don't get to incarcerate them until they come up with the money, and neither should the government. Grits expects legislation to be filed soon addressing this populist (and popular) bipartisan priority. That's necessary to prevent more than a half-million Texans from going to jail next year over unpaid Class C misdemeanor debthttp://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/01/texans-incarcerated-thousands-of-years.html

[boutons_deux]

Bill limiting suspensions a start at untangling worst-in-nation driver-license mess

Texas revokes more drivers licenses, by far, than any other state

a bill up (https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB162) in the Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday (https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/86R/schedules/html/C4202019022708001.htm) that would rectify a small but unremittingly ill-conceived provision in the current law.

Presently, Texas law doubles down on license suspension as a punishment, even when it fails to keep drivers off the road. When the Transportation Code lists grounds for suspending licenses (https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.521.htm#521.292),

the very first one is driving while one's "license was suspended, :lol

canceled, disqualified, or revoked, or without a license after an application for a license was denied."

So one of the punishments for driving with your license suspended is to suspend your license for a minimum of one extra year.

Combined with the Driver Responsibility surcharge (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/02/legislation-filed-to-abolish-driver.html), which has left

more than a million Texans with suspended licenses,

this provision adds insult to injury, leaving drivers without a license even after delinquent surcharges are finally paid.

people who engage in "habitually reckless" driving, "fraudulent use" of their license, or are responsible for an accident that results in serious personal injury or property damage, only get a 90-day suspension.

HB 162 (https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB162) would apply an extra suspension only for drivers whose licenses were suspended for DWI.

And then, he would limit the suspension to 90 days, which is the amount of time for all other suspensions under the same provision.

would help untangle a particularly difficult bureaucratic gnarl which can ensnare drivers for years after they've otherwise paid their debt to society.

http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/02/bill-limiting-suspensions-start-at.html

Is this extreme punishment a form of Jim Crow / Jaime Cuervo?

What is the ethnicity or race of the 1M+ suspended drivers?

[Winehole23]

Prosecutorial discretion can do a lot of good:


“The criminal justice system has fallen disproportionately harshly on poor people and people of color, that’s just a fact,” Creuzot told the Observer. “The entire system is complicit in this dysfunction. We’re doing what we can within this office to address some of that.”

Under the new policies, the DA’s office won’t prosecute people arrested with misdemeanor marijuana possession for the first time; Creuzot said he’s already dismissed more than 1,000 pot possession cases that were filed before he took office. After the first offense, Dallas prosecutors will offer a diversion program — a fine, a class and drug testing — that, if completed, will lead to dismissal of the criminal charge.

Among other changes, prosecutors will no longer take “trace” cases involving a minuscule amount of drugs, nor will they accept criminal trespass charges against someone who is clearly homeless and in need of services. Creuzot’s letter seeks to reduce the county’s heavy reliance on cash bail (https://www.texasobserver.org/videos-of-dallas-bail-hearings-show-assembly-line-justice-in-action/) — the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit (https://www.texasobserver.org/civil-rights-groups-are-changing-bail-practices-in-texas-one-city-at-a-time/) — directing prosecutors to advocate for pretrial release in many low-level felony and most misdemeanor cases. “Our system of justice cannot depend on whether individuals can afford to buy their freedom,” he wrote.
https://www.texasobserver.org/dallas-county-da-john-creuzot-calls-new-reforms-a-step-forward-in-ending-mass-incarceration/

[boutons_deux]

Prosecutorial discretion can do a lot of good:



notable only because it's an exception that proves the rule

[Winehole23]

notable only because it's an exception that proves the ruleelections matter

[boutons_deux]

elections matter

Texas is solidly racist, red, xenophobic, evangelical.

The 4 Big Blue Cities (SA muni elections have sub-15% turnout) can't overcome the rurals, voter suppression, Repug gerrymandering, and ditto for all the retrograde slave states, that all together vote Repug for regressivity.

KY wants to make voter registration people state felons. etc, etc, etc.

America is fucked and unfuckable, by the red/slave states controlled by the oligarchy.

[Winehole23]

Texas justice reformers will spend the next couple of years lamenting what the Texas Lege DIDN'T do in 2019 - e.g., reduce marijuana penalties, pass the Sandra Bland law, close the dead-suspect loophole to the Public Information Act - or else frustrated by new criminal penalties boosting sentences for petty offenses.

But it's worth giving legislators credit for what they DID do on #cjreform, and by far the most important measures relate to providing relief from justice-system debt:


https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJKFHSrWTgE/XO_EmXEa_iI/AAAAAAAAC0g/OqTbnBy9Fv05X7AuMs5QDnv2pUMTIop8gCLcBGAs/s320/debt%2Bcartoon%2B5-29-19.jpg (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aJKFHSrWTgE/XO_EmXEa_iI/AAAAAAAAC0g/OqTbnBy9Fv05X7AuMs5QDnv2pUMTIop8gCLcBGAs/s1600/debt%2Bcartoon%2B5-29-19.jpg)
Abolishing the Driver Responsibility Surcharge: The Texas Fair Defense Project estimates that $2.5 billion in justice-debt will be wiped off the books on September 1st when HB 2048 takes effect, and some 1.5 million people will be eligible (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/05/abolition-of-driver-surcharges-rare.html) to have their drivers licenses reinstated.

Eliminating red-light cameras: While a few cities have lengthy contracts which will keep red light cameras operating for years to come, the Legislature forbade new ones and eliminated the ability to deny vehicle registration or license renewal for nonpayment. These cameras affect on safety is dubious, at best, and are viewed by locals as revenue generators.

Limited automatic driver's license suspensions: HB 162 would end the practice (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/02/bill-limiting-suspensions-start-at.html) of searching driver records to suspend licenses of people driving without them. Now, such administrative suspensions based on a government database search will be limited to people whose licenses are suspended for DWI, and those would be limited to 90 days. The Washington Post last year reported (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/more-than-7-million-people-may-have-lost-drivers-licenses-because-of-traffic-debt/2018/05/19/97678c08-5785-11e8-b656-a5f8c2a9295d_story.html?utm_term=.ebced8e0b242) that Texas has more people with suspended licenses than any other state. This new law and abolition of the Driver Responsibility surcharge should go a long way toward knocking that number down.

Defined "undue hardship" in debtors prison cases: In 2017, the Texas Lege approved legislation to make it easier (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2018/09/texas-debtorsprison-legislation.html) for municipal judges and justices of the peace to waive Class C fines and authorize community service. But many local judges had been defining the term "undue hardship" narrowly to avoid waiving fines. Amendments to SB 346 define that term so that more fines will be waived. This was a cleanup bill, but quite necessary: Although more than 50,000 people had fines waived in the 2018, for example,more than ten times that number (http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/01/texans-incarcerated-thousands-of-years.html) sat out their Class C fines in jail.

Two of these - surcharge abolition and eliminating red-light cameras - were pushed by reformers for 12 years before finally passing.http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2019/05/scaling-back-justice-debt-biggest.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[boutons_deux]

500K people in jail for unpaid Class C fines, costing taxpayers $K/month x 500K.

We vengeful, God-fearing Repugs don't care what our Jim Crow / Jaime Cuervo enforcement costs taxpayers, but you knitters and Messcans going to jail.

[Winehole23]

well, at least you skimmed it. you're not required to cheer.

[Winehole23]

1134131924669259776

[Winehole23]

2020 criminal justice reform year in review:

https://theappeal.org/politicalreport/states-in-2020/

[Winehole23]

even conservative groups like the TPPF are for bail reform, and, if memory serves, bail reform is still in the GOP platform for the upcoming lege:

https://www.texaspolicy.com/blog/detail/a-better-bail-system-for-texas

LA doing away with cash bail today, SF has already done so.

1345051639103762433

[Winehole23]

Looks like Illinois will get rid of cash bail, predictive algorithms and pretrial electronic monitoring.

1351226996077035523

[Winehole23]

A big deal if it passes.

[1387097450041774080

[Winehole23]

Dp

[Winehole23]

:tu

on to the TX Senate

1388532283318030337

1388536947816247299

[Winehole23]

if not for the 2020 BLM protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd -- which might be the largest mass political movement since MLK (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html) and the second US reconstruction -- you probably don't see this.

1388264263626723328

[Winehole23]

denouement:

1397921679582527495

[Winehole23]

Three year study drops on Harris County bail reform.



A federally mandated change in the misdemeanor bail policy of Harris County, Texas, has resulted in fewer low-level offenders in jail and improved public safety, according to a new study.


The bail reforms in the county that includes Houston, ordered five years ago as part of a consent decree, have resulted in a 13% increase in people released within the first 24 hours of a misdemeanor arrest and a 6% decrease in new prosecutions over the three years following arrest, indicating that releasing these defendants doesn’t increase recidivism, according to the study (https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/quattronecenter/reports/bailreform/#/) by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-30/texas-bail-reform-reduced-jail-time-and-crime-new-study-says

[Winehole23]

“This idea that when you release people charged with these low-level crimes you’re going to harm public safety, the data doesn’t support that at all,” said Paul Heaton, academic director at the Quattrone Center and the lead researcher on the study. “You can fix this and you can do it in a way that doesn’t compromise public safety, it doesn’t compromise accountability, it ratchets back the cost of the criminal justice system.”

[Winehole23]

Bonkers result related to bail reform in CA5, district judges now have sovereign immunity.


Still, despite those well-established precedents, and the bedrock underlying principles, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided last Monday that Texas state district judges have immunity from subpoenas in a federal lawsuit against Harris County and its sheriff over its bail system. The opinion was written by Judge Jennifer Elrod and joined by Judge Edith Clement, both of whom are former President George W. Bush appointees, and by Judge Carl Stewart, an appointee of former President Clinton.

The ruling undermines the supremacy of federal law by reinterpreting state sovereignty as a shield that can bar access to evidence necessary to vindicate rights under the federal Constitution.

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, whose offices argued on behalf of the judges, didn’t respond to my questions. A representative of the 5th Circuit told me the judges cannot comment on the ruling.

The underlying lawsuit was filed by several people who were detained in Harris County after being unable to post a cash bond. They’re represented by attorneys from the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, Civil Rights Corps and Hogan Lovells.

The 5th Circuit held in an earlier 2018 case that Harris County’s bail system was unconstitutional because it favored people who can afford cash bail. But that decision was essentially overruled when a different panel of 5th Circuit judges dismissed a similar suit against Dallas County. That panel held that sovereign immunity bars suits against some officials in that case and that federal courts should sit out the matter until Texas lawmakers iron out the details of proposed legislation to reform bail procedures.

The plaintiffs in the latest ruling dropped the judges from their case after that 2018 decision, deciding instead to simply subpoena them for testimony and documents.

After that, the 5th Circuit simply extended sovereign immunity again, exempting state officials and entities not only from lawsuit, but even from basic discovery in federal court.https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/texas-judges-now-get-broader-immunity-than-us-president-2022-09-30/

[Winehole23]

Should judges be more remote from the reach of the law than the president? One would think not.

[Winehole23]

Looks like Illinois will get rid of cash bail, predictive algorithms and pretrial electronic monitoring.

1351226996077035523No more cash bail in Illinois. It doesn't really make sense that jail release should be dependent upon one's ability to pay.

1681306744394485761