Leading a national downward trend in the use of the death penalty, Texas has executed just 13 prisoners so far in 2011, the lowest number in more than a decade. And juries meted out only eight new death sentences.
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
Jana Duty: The Texas Tribune Interview
The Williamson County attorney on how the Michael Morton case inspired her to run against Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, and her concerns that his office could still allow the same mistakes.
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Criminal Justice
On the Records: What Are Federal Lawmakers Saying?
The Sunlight Foundation released an update to the interactive Capitol Words on Monday. The application allows users to search and compare words spoken by federal legislators using data from the Congressional Record.
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Criminal Justice
On the Records: Texas Exonerations
Texas ranks third in the number of exonerations in the United States since 1989, according to data compiled by Mother Jones. Take a look at how Texas compares to other states across the nation with this map.
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Criminal Justice
El Paso is Tops Again on Low-Crime Cities List
El Paso has the lowest crime rate of American cities with populations over 500,000, according to rankings assembled by the CQ Press and released earlier today. This is the second year in a row the border city has topped the list.
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Criminal Justice
New Youth Agency Taking Shape as Two Close
With the closure of two previous youth agencies, lawmakers and advocates hope to see cost savings and better results out of the new Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
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Criminal Justice
It’s “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Vote” at Election Time
Voters choose dozens of important state officials without knowing a thing about them. So they rely on other cues — like political affiliations, pleasing names and who knows what else.
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Criminal Justice
Video: Dogs’ Evidence Stands as Woman Waits in Prison
The dog-sniffing evidence that led to the conviction of her father for conspiring to commit murder was unreliable enough for him to be released from prison. So why is his daughter, Megan Winfrey, serving a life sentence for the same crime based largely on the same evidence?
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Criminal Justice
Dogs’ Evidence Stands as Woman Waits in Prison
If the dog-sniffing evidence that led to the conviction of her father for conspiring to commit murder was unreliable enough for him to be released from prison, why is Megan Winfrey still serving a life sentence for the same crime based largely on the same evidence?
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson maps the growth of poverty in Texas, Aguilar on the suicide of an illegal immigrant, Galbraith on the prospect of more rolling blackouts, Grissom on a prosecutor’s memory lapse, Hamilton on the prospect of public universities undergoing a sunset review, Murphy’s latest awesome redistricting interactive, Ramsey on a stumbling start to the 2012 election season, Root on Rick Perry’s latest populist tirade, M. Smith on the boom in for-profit teacher certification programs and Tan on the fight against cervical cancer in … Africa: The best of our best content from November 28 to December 2, 2011.