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The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.

  • Will Europe Thwart Texas Executions?

    By Brandi Grissom

    Texas has enough supplies of a key drug to carry out only two more executions. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is exploring its options, including what other states are doing. But the drug alternatives are limited and would most likely still leave Texas reliant on nations that oppose the death penalty. Full Story 

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  • Jail Officials: Mental Health Cuts Hurt Everyone

    By Brandi Grissom

    Slashing funds for community-based mental health care will hurt taxpayers and degrade the quality of life for thousands of mentally ill Texans and their families, Harris County Jail officials told Texas budget writers today in written testimony for the Senate Finance Committee. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Lawmakers Propose Raiding Auto Theft Fund

    By Brandi Grissom

    House and Senate budget writers have proposed closing a little-known state agency that helps prevent and solve automobile theft and burglary. The catch? While they’re planning to kill the agency, they're not planning to stop collecting the fee you pay to keep it going. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • Testing the Evidence

    By Brandi Grissom

    In police departments across Texas, tens of thousands of rape kits have been sitting on the shelves of property storage rooms for years — thanks to strained budgets, overworked crime labs and a law enforcement philosophy that such kits are primarily useful as evidence if a stranger committed the assault. Victims’ rights advocates and some lawmakers say they'll work to pass legislation this year to take that evidence out of storage and create a DNA database that would help track rapists and perhaps even identify those who have been wrongly convicted. "I think we owe it to every person who has been raped," says state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. Full Story 

    A sexual assault evidence collection kit
    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    The Trib staff on the sweeping cuts in the proposed House budget, Grissom on what's lost and not found at the Department of Public Safety, Galbraith on the wind power conundrum, Hamilton on higher ed's pessimistic budget outlook, Stiles and Swicegood debut an incredibly useful bill tracker app, Ramsey interviews Rick Perry on the cusp of his second decade as governor, Aguilar on a Mexican journalist's quest for asylum in the U.S., Ramshaw on life expectancy along the border, M. Smith on the obstacles school districts face in laying off teachers and yours truly talks gambling and the Rainy Day Fund with state Rep. Jim Pitts: The best of our best from January 17 to 21, 2011. Full Story 

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  • Interactive: Where Texans Go To Drink

    By Becca Aaronson

    A sizable chunk of the state's general revenue — $635 million — in 2010 came from the mixed beverage tax. Texans drank 1.1 gallons of distilled spirits (liquor) each in 2010, which at 1.5 ounces a shot equals 94 mixed drinks a year. Check out our interactive map to see where Texans are going out for drinks. Full Story 

    Interactive map shows per capita revenue from mixed beverage taxes.
    Credit: Graphic by Becca Aaronson

  • How Do You Lose a 24-Foot Boat?

    By Brandi Grissom

    Or a $74,000 piece of radio equipment? Or more than 150 handguns and rifles? Those are just a few of the nearly 1,500 items that the Texas Department of Public Safety reported stolen or lost in the last decade. Some of the assets might still be in the possession of DPS or possibly were sold, but the agency’s inventory system is so poor that it's hard to know what's actually missing. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman

  • A Stiff Cocktail of Budget Cuts

    By Texas Tribune Staff

    The Texas House has unveiled a $156.4 billion budget that's $31.1 billion smaller than the current two-year spending plan — a drop of 16.6 percent. The proposed budget came with $1.2 billion in recommendations for savings and new revenue from the Legislative Budget Board. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Gohmert Takes His Shot

    By Evan Smith

    On Friday, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, appeared on Fox and Friends to talk about why he believes, in the wake of the Tucson shootings, that members of Congress should be allowed to carry guns in Washington, D.C. Full Story 

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  • Capitol Insecurity

    By Ross Ramsey

    When Andrew Cuomo took office as governor of New York earlier this month, he ordered the removal of the security barricades limiting access to his state’s Capitol. “This Capitol has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people,” he said in his inauguration speech. He could easily have been talking about Texas. Full Story 

    Capitol visitors pass through metal detectors.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • TribBlog: Youth Justice Merger?

    By Aziza Musa

    The Sunset Advisory Commission today unanimously recommended consolidating the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission into one single youth justice division. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva