Criminal justice

An estimate to put air conditioning into one prison changed from more than $20 million to $4 million last year.

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There are now two sets of bail reform bills named after a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who was murdered while the suspect was out of jail on a $15,500 bond after allegedly assaulting a sheriff’s deputy.

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Multiple bills filed this session aim to address deficiencies in women's prisons.

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University President Greg Fenves announced the firing in an email and said, "The integrity of UT admissions is essential to our mission as a research university and to the students and families we serve."

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After shrinking the population at state-run juvenile lockups, state Sen. John Whitmire wants to move the remaining youth at five facilities to one recently closed adult jail.

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The requirement was included in a budget amendment approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday.

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Brown was freed from nearly a decade on death row in 2015, but because he was never declared "actually innocent," he couldn't get compensation for wrongful imprisonment — until Friday.

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The repercussions Texans face for possessing small amounts of pot — something several states no longer consider criminal — can all depend on where in the state they live. Some lawmakers want an across-the-board relaxation of criminal charges. But stigma fuels lingering opposition.

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As the state put the 70-year-old to death, his son banged on the death chamber window. After an altercation with law enforcement, Coble's son and another relative were removed from the witness room and arrested.

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The ruling only pertains to a slice of the law, but open government advocates say the decision “removes a powerful disincentive” put in place to keep public officials from hiding public business.

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The chairs of two House committees signed on as joint authors of a bill that would set the method of determining if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution.

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A recent in-custody death report said an inmate died from hyperthermia in July, but Texas prison officials said he was in an air-conditioned cell.

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This time, the majority of the justices said Moore has shown he is intellectually disabled.

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Billed as a consumer-protection effort, the proposal would allow approved individuals to serve as investment advisers without registering with the state board — a felony under Texas law that Ken Paxton was charged with in 2015.

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State jails were created to help low-level drug offenders get treatment. But they offer few rehabilitative services, and their inmates are more likely to reoffend.

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Lawmakers in both chambers and parties want to fix the controversial Driver Responsibility Program, but the program funds state trauma centers. Where will they find $144 million to fill the gap?

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In the wake of a midterm election that saw four major state appeals courts flip on partisan lines, Hecht called on lawmakers to consider changing Texas to a system of merit selection and retention elections.

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Two years after a bail reform bill died in the Legislature, new bail legislation has other factors working in its favor.

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Nearly two decades after the U.S. Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to execute those with intellectual disabilities, Texas still has no process on determining the condition — leaving life-and-death decisions in the hands of courts with very different methods.

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In response to a call from Pope Francis for transparency, all 15 dioceses have released lists going back decades.

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