Last year, lawmakers told the Texas Juvenile Justice Department to close a facility, and the agency drew up plans to shutter its aging Corsicana detention center. Now, lawmakers are keeping it open at a cost of $100,000 a month.
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
Last-Minute Stay for Texas Death Row Inmate
A federal appeals court halted the Texas execution of Robert James Campbell just hours before he was to be put to death Tuesday based on questions about whether the 41-year-old inmate is mentally disabled.
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Criminal Justice
“Bernie” Movie Plays Key Role in Bernie’s Freedom
Filmmaker Richard Linklater always thought life in prison was too harsh for Bernie Tiede, the East Texas mortician who murdered his 81-year-old companion. Now — in large part because of Linklater’s film on him — Tiede is no longer behind bars.
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Criminal Justice
TribLive: Branch on Paxton
At our May 8 TribLive conversation, state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general in 2014, laid out the case against his rival in the May 27 runoff, state Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney.
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Criminal Justice
TribLive: A Conversation With Dan Branch
Full video of my May 8 TribLive conversation with state Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general in 2014.
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Criminal Justice
Charity Group Backs Company in Immigrant Smuggling Case
A Catholic philanthropic organization has thrown its support behind a mining company and one of its employees who are being sued after three undocumented immigrants were killed during an incursion onto private property in Brooks County.
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Criminal Justice
Lawsuits Challenge Transparency of Texas Execution Process
Defense lawyers say that information about the drug Texas uses in executions – pentobarbital — is shrouded in secrecy. And they worry a dearth of information could lead to cruel and unusual executions.
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Criminal Justice
Judge Agrees to Release Murderer “Bernie” Backed by Austin Filmmaker
Nearly two decades after Bernie Tiede shot 81-year-old Marjorie Nugent and tucked her body in a deep freezer, a judge has released him on bond. The filmmaker Richard Linklater will house Tiede in his Austin garage apartment.
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Criminal Justice
DPS Introduces New Mounted Patrol Unit for Capitol
The Texas Department of Public Safety is not horsing around with its new mounted patrol unit for the state Capitol complex. Formally introduced Tuesday morning, it includes three donated horses and four trained state troopers.
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Criminal Justice
Comptroller to Strip Clubs: Time to Pay Up
A controversial strip club fee that lawmakers approved in 2007 is still winding its way through the courts, but Comptroller Susan Combs is pressing the clubs to pay six years’ worth of “pole taxes.”
