Position: Criminal Justice

Provide a secure prison environment with maximum educational opportunities and adequate health care. Promote meaningful sentencing reform. Support bail reform for economic non-violent crimes.

Position In Brief:

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

Action to achieve an equitable system of criminal justice in Texas:

Criminal Justice

improvements in pretrial justice programs and an adequately state funded public defender system including:

• availability of night and weekend magistrates
• improvements in the training and requirements of law enforcement personnel
• revision of the bail bond system to permit counties to serve as bonding agencies and to provide regulation of all commercial bail bond agencies and guidelines for more uniform bail amounts
• Reform of the bail bond system to require state funded-risk assessment for defendants who are arrested for economic non-violent crimes, and who are unable to pay bail cost, so that they can be released on their own recognizance, subject to monitoring while awaiting pretrial.
• Reinforcement of the requirements for open hearings and the presence of a public defender at the time of a pretrial hearing.

elimination of jury sentencing, and revision of the penal code to reduce the disparity of sentences

• state laws to prohibit wiretapping

a state correctional system which would assign highest priority to provision of a broad range of community-based programs and facilities as well as provide technical assistance and funding for locally administered programs

improvements in the parole system

a prison system which would provide humane care for all inmates in a secure environment with maximum educational opportunities, adequate health care services, adequate programs to assist all inmates in making the transition from prison to the free world, and compensation to inmates for their labor.