State employees who commit heinous acts against Texas’ most profoundly disabled citizens rarely get charged with crimes, let alone go to jail. A Texas Tribune review of a decade’s worth of abuse and neglect firings at state institutions found that just 16 percent of the most violent or negligent employees were ever charged with crimes.
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
Mapping the Money Race
To better understand the geography of the money race, we mapped the candidates’ contributions by city, using graduated symbols to highlight their most lucrative areas. The bubbles in the maps get larger based on the percentage of a candidates’ total take.
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Criminal Justice
Openly Hostile
Kay Bailey Hutchison says Texas government should be more transparent. Rick Perry says it already is. Let the sniping begin.
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Criminal Justice
Guest Column: The 2010 Agenda: Criminal Justice
In response to shrinking budgets, there’s a risk that lawmakers might feel compelled to scale back funding for treatment and diversion programming. Instead, it’s time for the state to seriously consider closing one or more of the 112 prison units it currently operates.
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Criminal Justice
Data App: Governor’s Race Cash
Search more than $35 million in campaign donations and loans collected by the top candidates in the governor’s race. You can also explore how they spent the money.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Hi(gh) Again
A recent juvenile justice report finds drug-addicted TYC inmates who didn’t participate in the agency’s drug treatment program were less likely to reoffend than those who did.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: Perry Indicates He’ll Pardon Timothy Cole
Gov. Rick Perry appears willing to sign a posthumous pardon for the exonerated Timothy Cole after Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today issued an opinion that said the governor could grant one.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: AG Says Posthumous Pardons Possible
A posthumous pardon is possible after all, according to an opinion from Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office. This clears the way for the possible post-death pardon of Tim Cole, who was exonerated of a sexual assault conviction in a Travis County court last year, but had died in prison many years prior.
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Criminal Justice
Sexual Abuse in State Lock-ups
Three years after a sexual abuse scandal rocked the Texas Youth Commission, one in five juvenile offenders in Texas youth lock-ups report being forced into sexual acts.