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  1. #1
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    #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. 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.co....html?spref=tw

  2. #2
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  3. #3
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    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.

  4. #4
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    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

  5. #5
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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  6. #6
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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  7. #7
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    you have the never giving Republicans credit for anything disease.

    face it, it's an objective cognitive problem.

  8. #8
    my unders, my frgn whites pgardn's Avatar
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    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.

  9. #9
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    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 up, for money, everything they touch.

  10. #10
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    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 Ins ute, tells The American Conservative.
    https://www.theamericanconservative....ustice-system/

  11. #11
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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  12. #12
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    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, "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 earninga reputation for promoting false, self-interested information, not just to the press and the public but in this case, to the courts.
    https://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.c...royoliver.html

  13. #13
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    TPR had a show a couple days on this TDCJ bull .

  14. #14
    LMAO koriwhat's Avatar
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    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!

  15. #15
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    judges bridling at bail reform is expensive:

    As mentioned earlier, the Harris County Jail, with more than 10,000 inmates, islarger than the prison systems 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 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.c...by-judges.html

  16. #16
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    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.



    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 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 “cons utionally 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 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-...ity-at-a-time/

  17. #17
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    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.
    Last edited by boutons_deux; 09-22-2018 at 05:17 AM.

  18. #18
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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  19. #19
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    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.

  20. #20
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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  21. #21
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    I note controlled substance is ANything on DEA schedule in 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

  22. #22
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    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.

  23. #23
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    muni court debt jubilee in LA:


  24. #24
    Watching the collapse benefactor's Avatar
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    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.

  25. #25
    dangerous floater Winehole23's Avatar
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    the trend, believe it or not, is favorable.

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

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