Posts categorized as:

Criminal Justice

map of low level fentanyl cases in harris county

The impact of low level fentanyl cases on Harris County Criminal Courts

By Jeff Reichman / June 6, 2023

Beginning April 21, 2023, the Harris County District Attorney’s office now requires mandatory lab testing for low level fentanyl cases of less than four grams. This policy is in place to speed up evidence processing and move cases through the system faster. Harris County is notorious for its backlog of criminal cases since Hurricane Harvey.…

Read More
map of prohibited areas for AHF development in houston

Houston still doesn’t have enough reentry housing for people on parole

By Jeff Reichman / July 11, 2023

In 2018, Houston City Council unanimously passed an ordinance to regulate reentry housing for people on parole, despite significant opposition. Five years later, the ordinance not only regulates existing facilities, but it also effectively prevents new housing. Just like activists said it would. The ordinance addresses alternate housing facilities (AHFs), which are for-profit entities that…

Read More
seal your record harris county

New website helps people seal their criminal record in Harris County

By Jeff Reichman / August 19, 2021

In Texas, every criminal conviction has collateral consequences. For example, if you’re convicted of a felony, you lose your right to vote during incarceration, probation, or parole. Texas has over 1,400 collateral consequences. You can explore them for yourself at the National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction database. But these consequences aren’t just for…

Read More
pretrial jail population texas

Four takeaways from the ACLU jail population dashboard

By Shannon Carter / January 19, 2021

In the United States, incarcerated people are five times more likely to contract COVID-19 and three times more likely to die of COVID-19 than the general population. In response to the pandemic, activists are calling for officials to reduce the jail population in order to keep everyone safe. With a cash bail system, many people…

Read More
map of prohibited areas for AHF development in houston

Houston’s Housing Restrictions for People on Parole

By Jeff Reichman / June 14, 2019

Last year, the City of Houston passed an ordinance that regulated certain types of housing for people on parole. This ordinance includes regulations to promote safety, but it also includes a distance requirement that effectively prohibits new housing. Houston already lacks enough housing for people on parole, and this distance requirement only compounds the problem.…

Read More

Finding 30,000 disenfranchised voters in Houston

By Jeff Reichman / April 7, 2019

In 48 states, a felony conviction means that you lose the right to vote. This can be temporary or permanent, depending on your state. During the 2018 election, Florida pushed this issue into the national spotlight with a state constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to felons. It passed with two-thirds of the vote. Texas,…

Read More
human trafficking by legislative district

How to Fight Human Trafficking with Data

By David McClendon / April 25, 2019

We recently did a webinar with Jamey Caruthers, senior staff attorney at Children At Risk, about how to use data to fight human trafficking. Human trafficking is a huge problem in Texas, especially in Houston, and Children At Risk is leading the charge in helping to write and pass laws that increase penalties for perpetrators while…

Read More

The decline of low level marijuana cases in Harris County

By Jeff Reichman / September 30, 2018

Last year, we partnered with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition to develop the first version of the TCJC Dashboard. Since then, we’ve been working behind the scenes to push the limits of what we can learn from these data. Thanks to generous funding from Microsoft, we developed a new version of the dashboard and a…

Read More

Building a Data Dashboard for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition

By Jeff Reichman / March 22, 2017

The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition advances solutions to build healthy, safe communities across Texas. Access to meaningful data is critical to informing the development of policies that will improve public safety and restore community trust in law enforcement. We’re thrilled to share this incredible resource with those who want to learn more about the criminal…

Read More