Some parents and advocacy organizations say the state’s truancy laws are too harsh. The Senate passed a bill last week to change these laws, compromising with judges and district officials who said the reforms were too broad.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Travis County DA: “Hope to Complete My Term”
The embattled district attorney of Travis County, Rosemary Lehmberg, apologized Saturday in an open letter to her constituents — and insisted she hopes to complete her term in office.
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Criminal Justice
Texas Weekly Newsreel: West, the Lottery and the Rainy Day Fund
In this edition of the Newsreel: The conversation in West turns to regulation, the Senate wants to ask voters to use Rainy Day Fund money, the House undoes the state lottery and then puts it back together, and some Texas prosecutors are in hot water.
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Criminal Justice
House Backs $875 Million Budget Bill After Hot Debate
A debate in the Texas House on a supplemental budget bill Friday veered into debates on the Travis County district attorney’s drunken driving charge and the murder of two Kaufman County prosecutors.
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Criminal Justice
Texas Prosecutors No Longer Unassailable
One of the most exalted elected positions in Texas politics — that of the law-and-order district attorney — doesn’t come with as much job security as it used to. District attorneys in some of the state’s biggest counties are fighting for their jobs.
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Interactive: Tracking Texas’ Gun Legislation
State lawmakers have filed roughly 100 gun bills this session — many drafted in the wake of the deadly December shooting in Newtown, Conn. Use our interactive to review the measures by subject and see which are getting the most traction in the Capitol.
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Criminal Justice
Anderson Appeals, Citing Statute of Limitations
UPDATED: Williamson County state district Judge Ken Anderson has filed an appeal asking a court to rule that a warrant for his arrest should be void because it violates the statute of limitations.
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Criminal Justice
Critics See Holes in Bill’s Border Security Strategy
Some Texas lawmakers and stakeholders are taking issue with aspects of the federal immigration reform bill filed last week, with some questioning why the measure was crafted without mechanisms to avoid a future inflow of illegal migration.
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Criminal Justice
House Shows Support for Innocence Commission Bill
UPDATED: The House on Tuesday endorsed a bill that would create a state panel to investigate wrongful convictions. Similar legislation has been defeated in the past, but this time it has drawn supporters many consider unlikely.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson tracks the latest on Medicaid expansion, Aguilar on lawmakers’ openness to driving permits for non-citizens, Batheja on surprising support for higher state spending, Root and Galbraith on the state’s search for answers after the West explosion, M. Smith covers the debate over high school standards, Grissom finds a shadow payroll at the Capitol, Hamilton on the man with a plan at UT, Rocha spots a special deal for lawmakers accused of crimes, KUT’s Philpott on obstacles to road funding and Ramshaw on the privileges of legislative membership: The best of our best for the week of April 15-19, 2013.
