The news crews have drifted away, and the national spotlight has turned elsewhere. But Central American immigrants continue to cross illegally into Texas, and their numbers seem to be growing again.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
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Criminal Justice
Gay Marriage Ban on Precarious Legal Ground
Almost a decade after voters overwhelmingly added it to the Texas Constitution, the clock may be running out on the state’s gay marriage ban.
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Criminal Justice
Texas Supreme Court: Acquitted Educator Can Teach For Now
A Rio Grande City teacher acquitted on charges of having an improper relationship with a student may remain in the classroom as he continues to appeal the revocation of his teacher certificate, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
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Criminal Justice
Border Apprehensions in Texas Spiked in 2014
Federal immigration agents apprehended nearly 97,000 more people trying to enter the U.S. illegally through Texas’ southern border during the 2014 fiscal year than they did in 2013, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday.
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Criminal Justice
The Slow Death of the Death Penalty
Since capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, the cost of carrying out a death penalty trial has risen steadily.
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Criminal Justice
A Push to Award a Degree to a Symbol of Injustice
Texas Tech University expelled Tim Cole after he was arrested in 1985 and charged with rape. Cole died in prison, but DNA evidence cleared the way for a posthumous pardon in 2009. Now there’s a push for Tech to award Cole an honorary degree.
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Criminal Justice
Murders Up, but El Paso Still Safe, Lawmakers Say
The homicide rate in El Paso has almost doubled since last year. But officials say it doesn’t have anything to do with Mexican cartels and spillover violence.
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Criminal Justice
New Leaders Hope to Burnish Laredo’s Image
After eight years of growth, change and public corruption scandals, new leaders in Laredo and Webb County are greeting 2015 with a sense of optimism.
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Criminal Justice
Video: New Senators on Border Security
At our 12/11 conversation, incoming Texas Senators Konni Burton, R-Colleyville, Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, and Van Taylor, R-Plano, talked about what the next legislature should handle the issue of border security.
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Criminal Justice
CCA Offers Guidance to Courts Trying Teens as Adults
The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday ruled that a Houston teen should not have been tried as an adult and spelled out better guidance for courts to consider before transferring youth defendants into the adult court system.
