The Texas Senate today passed a bill that would finally compensate Anthony Graves for the 18 years he spent behind bars convicted of grisly murders he did not commit.
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
Lawmakers Target Prison School for Makeover
Texas could save money, and prisoners could get a better education, some lawmakers say, if inmate learning programs were provided online. But correctional education experts and teachers say lawmakers’ ideas — particularly about online programs — show a lack of understanding about prison life.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Aaronson on pork choppers, Aguilar on sanctuary cities legislation, Galbraith on Brownsville’s ban on plastic bags, Grissom on Delma Banks and prosecutorial misconduct, Hamilton on a tough week for higher education in Texas, Philpott on wildfires and politics, Ramshaw on the state’s pursuit of a federal Medicaid overhaul, M. Smith on what would happen if lawmakers don’t rewrite school finance formulas, yours truly on the Lege as schoolyard and Stiles with interactive graphics on how the proposed Senate redistricting maps compare with current ones: The best of our best content from May 9 to 13, 2011.
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Criminal Justice
House Approves Four Loko Ban
The Texas House passed a bill today on malt liquor drinks that contain caffeine, ginseng, taurine or guarana. The bill prohibits the sale, manufacture, import and possessing of alcoholic energy drinks, like the infamous Four Loko.
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Criminal Justice
On the Records: Complaints Lead Valley Paper to Pull Salary Data
In an apology issued Thursday morning, The Monitor announced that, in response to reader complaints, it will remove public school district salary data it posted earlier this week.
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Criminal Justice
Ellis Urges Lawmakers to Act on Innocence Bills
Charles Chatman and other former prisoners who have been exonerated of their crimes are joining state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, in urging House lawmakers to act quickly and pass bills intended to reduce wrongful convictions.
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Criminal Justice
30 Years Later, Banks, Prosecutor Face Off Again Over Death Penalty
In a Texarkana courtroom Monday, Delma Banks Jr. faced again the district attorney’s office that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled committed misconduct when it successfully fought to send him to death row in 1980 for the shooting death of 16-year-old Richard Whitehead.
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Criminal Justice
Amendments Piled Onto Education Finance Bill
Senators today amended an education finance reform bill to allow community college students to carry concealed handguns on campus, increase the cost of cigarettes and allow drastic changes to university administration.
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Criminal Justice
Wentworth Gets a Win for Campus Carry
Sen. Jeff Wentworth is relentless with campus carry, and today, the San Antonio Republican got his way.
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Criminal Justice
Loser-Pays Bill Clears Texas House
Texas got one step closer today to becoming one of the few states with a rule that awards legal fees to prevailing parties in lawsuits.