Members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission expressed concerns today about the progress — or lack thereof — in the case of convicted arsonist Cameron Todd Willingham before ending a yet another meeting without a decision about the evidence that was used to send the Corsicana man to the death chamber in 2004.
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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Interactive: Where Texans Go To Drink
A sizable chunk of the state’s general revenue — $635 million — in 2010 came from the mixed beverage tax. Texans drank 1.1 gallons of distilled spirits (liquor) each in 2010, which at 1.5 ounces a shot equals 94 mixed drinks a year. Check out our interactive map to see where Texans are going out for drinks.
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Criminal Justice
How Do You Lose a 24-Foot Boat?
Or a $74,000 piece of radio equipment? Or more than 150 handguns and rifles? Those are just a few of the nearly 1,500 items that the Texas Department of Public Safety reported stolen or lost in the last decade. Some of the assets might still be in the possession of DPS or possibly were sold, but the agency’s inventory system is so poor that it’s hard to know what’s actually missing.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Study: Courts Can Do Better With Foster Kids
The Texas judicial system can do a better job handling the cases of kids in long-term foster care, according to a study released today by Texas Appleseed.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Innocence Clinics Dodge Budget Bullet, for Now
Texas innocence clinics escaped unscathed from the first round of budget cut recommendations, but at the Capitol today, advocates said they aren’t safe yet.
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Criminal Justice
A Stiff Cocktail of Budget Cuts
The Texas House has unveiled a $156.4 billion budget that’s $31.1 billion smaller than the current two-year spending plan — a drop of 16.6 percent. The proposed budget came with $1.2 billion in recommendations for savings and new revenue from the Legislative Budget Board.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Gohmert Takes His Shot
On Friday, U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, appeared on Fox and Friends to talk about why he believes, in the wake of the Tucson shootings, that members of Congress should be allowed to carry guns in Washington, D.C.
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Capitol Insecurity
When Andrew Cuomo took office as governor of New York earlier this month, he ordered the removal of the security barricades limiting access to his state’s Capitol. “This Capitol has become a physical metaphor for the isolation and alienation of our people,” he said in his inauguration speech. He could easily have been talking about Texas.
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TribBlog: Youth Justice Merger?
The Sunset Advisory Commission today unanimously recommended consolidating the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission into one single youth justice division.
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Criminal Justice
Dropping a Dime
Texas prisoners have made and received more than 4.7 million telephone calls and sent and received 1.8 million e-mails since 2009, when the state became the last in the nation to allow inmates phone and e-mail use. But all those calls and messages haven’t generated the amount of revenue the state expected. The issue is balancing greater access for prisoners and their friends and family and the need to ensure security.