The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is the state agency responsible for managing state prisons and jails and the oversight of more than 150,000 offenders. The agency also supervises offenders released from prison on parole.
The board is composed of nine members who are appointed by the governor to staggered, six-year terms. The governor also designates one member as ...
The Travis County district attorney's office is considering a review of the 1985 murder of Natalie Antonetti. In 2011, Dennis Davis was sentenced to 36 years for killing his ex-girlfriend. But the manner in which Antonetti was killed is eerily similar to two other murders where investigators identified the DNA of Mark Norwood.
Full StoryHey, Texplainer: Courts of inquiry have been used to exonerate wrongfully convicted Texans and to look at earlier cases. When does a judge call for a court of inquiry, and what else can judges review in these proceedings?
Full StoryIn rural Val Verde County, defendants who are too poor to afford their own lawyers have waited years for resolution of their cases. As a new legal battle between their lawyers and the county begins, their day in court remains elusive.
Full StoryState Fire Marshal Paul Maldonado’s hand-written resignation letter comes as the agency starts an unprecedented review of arson cases following the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s examination of the Cameron Todd Willingham case.
Full StoryTexans will close out 2011 with more questions than answers, from the outcomes of redistricting and Gov. Rick Perry's presidential bid to the effects of lawmakers' multibillion-dollar budget cuts. Here’s hoping 2012 brings some resolution.
Full StoryIn the spirit of TribWeek and TribMonth, we present TribYear. Ten of our best stories of 2011.
Full StoryAs it has since the Trib's launch in 2009, data continued to reign supreme on the site in 2011. Today, we take a look at the 10 most-visited data apps since Jan. 1.
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Michael Morton's tragic wrongful conviction for his wife's murder 25 years ago illustrates the best and worst of science in the courtroom, a judge said on Monday.
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The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday ordered lower courts to review two death penalty cases that involved a psychologist reprimanded earlier this year for using unscientific methods to determine that defendants were intellectually competent enough to face capital punishment.
Full StoryLeading a national downward trend in the use of the death penalty, Texas has executed just 13 prisoners so far in 2011, the lowest number in more than a decade. And juries meted out only eight new death sentences.
Full StoryTexas ranks third in the number of exonerations in the United States since 1989, according to data compiled by Mother Jones. Take a look at how Texas compares to other states across the nation with this map.
Full StoryEl Paso has the lowest crime rate of American cities with populations over 500,000, according to rankings assembled by the CQ Press and released earlier today. This is the second year in a row the border city has topped the list.
Full StoryWith the closure of two previous youth agencies, lawmakers and advocates hope to see cost savings and better results out of the new Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
Full StoryIf the dog-sniffing evidence that led to the conviction of her father for conspiring to commit murder was unreliable enough for him to be released from prison, why is Megan Winfrey still serving a life sentence for the same crime based largely on the same evidence?
Full StoryAaronson maps the growth of poverty in Texas, Aguilar on the suicide of an illegal immigrant, Galbraith on the prospect of more rolling blackouts, Grissom on a prosecutor's memory lapse, Hamilton on the prospect of public universities undergoing a sunset review, Murphy's latest awesome redistricting interactive, Ramsey on a stumbling start to the 2012 election season, Root on Rick Perry's latest populist tirade, M. Smith on the boom in for-profit teacher certification programs and Tan on the fight against cervical cancer in ... Africa: The best of our best content from November 28 to December 2, 2011.
Full StoryThe Legislature will soon begin the so-called sunset review process for the Department of Criminal Justice and the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The review, as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, has already attracted the attention of advocacy groups looking to change the state's criminal justice system.
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Judge Ken Anderson, the former prosecutor who saw to the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton, said during a marathon deposition that he remembered few of the details from the 25-year-old case and that he did nothing wrong.
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A coalition of lawyers today filed grievances with the State Bar of Texas against former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson, his former assistant Mike Davis and current District Attorney John Bradley.
Full StoryState Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, won't seek an 11th term in the Texas House, he told the Tribune this afternoon.
Full StoryRamshaw and Root on the debate that dominated the nation's political news, Tan and Ramshaw on how it will affect Rick Perry's campaign, Philpott on what "oops" might mean for Perry in South Carolina, Root on what it means in Iowa, Dehn with the latest Weekend Insider video, Galbraith on the split fates of water-related constitutional amendments, Grissom on an arrest in a 1986 murder case, Hamilton on UT-Arlington's efforts to control tuition costs and M. Smith, Murphy and Gerdau on West Texas schools raising money with wind farms: The best of our best content from November 7 to 11, 2011.
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The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals took some heat off of Gov. Rick Perry when it issued a stay of execution for Hank Skinner this week. And the governor has avoided any link to another case involving two of his appointees and a botched murder prosecution in Williamson County.
Full StoryMark Alan Norwood, a 57-year-old Bastrop resident, was arrested today and charged with the 1986 murder of Christine Morton. Michael Morton, her husband, was exonerated of her murder last month after spending nearly 25 years in prison.
Full StoryOn this week's TribCast, Ross, Reeve, Brandi, and Jay review the latest criminal justice headlines, consider the difference between news and gossip in light of the latest Herman Cain developments, and explain what's going on with redistricting.
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Mike Davis, a former assistant district attorney in Williamson County, pointed the finger for any alleged wrongdoing that led to the conviction of Michael Morton directly at his former boss, Ken Anderson.
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The insiders answered questions from the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll for the second week in a row, this time on the death penalty, education, top issues facing Texas, and whether the people they know would vote for a Mormon candidate with whom they agree on issues.
A report released Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union criticizes the private prison industry for profiting at the expense of a growing prison population.
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Former Williamson County district attorney Ken Anderson this morning entered a closed courthouse room where he faces Michael Morton and an inquiry into how prosecutors secured a wrongful murder conviction against Morton 25 years ago.
Full StoryThe momentous and long-awaited move was welcomed by the family of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted of killing his three daughters in a 1991 arson fire. He was executed in 2004, and scientists have since discredited the science that was used to cement his arson conviction.
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