PBT- Testifying Before The Texas House Interim Committee Regarding the Implementation of SB6
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On October 12, 2022, the Texas House Interim Study Committee on Criminal Justice Reform conducted a hearing on the implementation of SB6. The hearing was for invited testimony only.
Bronson Tucker who is the Curriculum Director for the Justice Training Center identified two issues that might need to be tweaked in SB6. First, dealt with the issue of warrants regarding when is a bond amount placed on a warrant mandatory vs discretionary. Second, he identified an issue regarding article 27.02 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which applies to the situation where a defendant has a current felony case pending and then is arrested on a new felony case and is supposed to go back to the original judge to be magistrated when the two cases are pending in the same county.
Testimony of Ken W. Good on behalf of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas.
Our Resources:
Find the failure to appear rate for any misdemeanor court in Harris County for any date over the last two years at "HarrisCountyCourt Watch.com". (Year to date for 2022, the average is over 80% of the people set on the docket fail to appear for court and are not being held accountable.
In 2020, 2021, Harris County misdemeanor courts dismissed approximately 72% of all misdemeanor cases disposed according to data reported from Harris County to the State of Texas (according to the Houston Police Officers Union). See report by CLICKING HERE.
In August 2022, according to the report released from on the Harris County District Clerk's website, over 90% of the misdemeanor cases disposed were dismissed.
Are these actions a sign that the Criminal Justice System is in collapse or is it a sign that Harris County's elected officials are intentionally de-criminalizing misdemeanor crime? Neither conclusion is good. Harris County remains ground zero for Criminal Justice Reform. Wasn't decriminalization tried in California and was the result to say it lightly "bad." Why would any Texan think this was a good idea in Texas?
Other Testimony-
Testimony of Sheriff Hawthorne from Chambers County- CLICK HERE. Sheriff Hawthorne begins by agreeing with comments by PBT representative Ken W. Good.
Excerpt of testimony of Kevin Lawrence, Executive Director, Texas Municipal Police Association explaining the ramifications of decriminalizing misdemeanor crime- CLICK HERE.
Related:
Reformers continue to tout Harris County as the model for bail reform that should be implemented across the country. Yes you read that right. This is not a joke. Reforms want to do to the rest of the country what they did to Harris County.
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I. Introduction This is the fourth in our four part a series regarding whether any county in Texas should adopt the Harris County model for bail reform. This article addresses what successful bail reform looks like. The private surety bail system has been in place for over 200 years. The purpose of bail is to allow someone accused of a crime to get out of jail while their case is pending. In exchange for freedom, the accused promises to appear in court any time it demands his appearance. If a defendant fails to appear, his or her bond is forfeited and a warrant is issued for their arrest. The criminal case is then placed on hold until the accused reappears. This could be for hours, days, weeks or even years -- and occasionally never. As we look to improve the bail system in Texas, we must first begin with the proposition that says “we should do no harm.” We should not initiate changes which will make the system worse by creating unintended consequences that slo...
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