Witnesses testimony concluded on Friday at the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder, second-degree murder and manslaughter after he was seen on video with a knee to 46-year-old George...
Criminal Justice
back to archiveRepublican bail reform bill poses threat to poor Texans, activists
Members of the Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence held their first hearing this week over Senate Bill 21, a controversial bail reform bill backed by Republicans. The purpose of the bill according to its author Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston) is to prevent repeat...
‘Life support for the bail bond industry:’ Experts sound alarm on SB 21
The Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence is hearing testimony on Thursday over Senate Bill 21, a sweeping piece of legislation that would hamper bail reform efforts in Texas sought after by some local governments and civil rights groups. The bill, authored by...
Texas bill seeks second chance for juvenile offenders
The Texas House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues Committee reviewed a bill on Monday that would show more leniency for Texans who were convicted as minors and are applying for parole. The bill, authored by El Paso Democrat state Rep. Joe Moody, would make parole...
Harris County voters want fewer people in jail, polling shows
New polling from The Appeal and Data for Progress shows that most Harris County residents support bail reform measures and want fewer people in the county’s overcrowded jail amid the COVID-19 pandemic The polling shows 59 percent of residents in Harris County favor...
Abbott dreams of Big Government
In late October, as the 2020 campaign was drawing to a close, Governor Greg Abbott’s political operation was busy blanketing the state with television ads warning that nefarious attempts to defund the police would make Texas cities unsafe. He pointed, as he often...
Ending reality cop shows in Texas and other police bills this session
The first police-related bill filed for the upcoming Texas Legislature session is a bill to prohibit law enforcement departments from contracting with reality television crews. The legislation is named after Javier Ambler, an Austin area postal worker who died of...
Joe Moody on abolishing the death penalty, legalizing weed, and Thanksgiving
On Wednesday, the Signal spoke with state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, who serves as speaker pro tempore of the Texas House. Now entering his sixth term, Moody has filed 11 bills for the upcoming session, mostly relating to his focus on criminal justice. They...
In Texas, is Justice still for sale?
If you ask judicial scholars who oppose electing, rather than appointing, judges their arguments invariably boil down to one thing. One complication. One glaring problem. It always comes back to the money. To get elected, judges need to campaign and...