By Ann del Llano
Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley misrepresented the pending
probation legislation, HB 2193, in his Forum May 12 on the Viewpoints Page.
The House Corrections Committee and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee
studied these issues for four years and issued reports recommending these improvements.
There have
been at least seven public hearings this legislative session on the issue. The House Corrections Committee hosted a large
private work session this spring.
John Bradley generally ignored the hearings and failed to attend the
private session.
Today, an astonishing one in 20 Texans is under the control of the Texas
criminal justice system - in prison, on probation, or on parole.
We cannot effectively monitor five percent of our population. If we want
to keep the public safe, we have to find a better way.
With probation officer caseloads hovering around 150 per person, our
system is weak because it fails to monitor probationers appropriately.
When one misbehaves, we revoke probation and send him or her back to
prison instead of correcting the behavior. When one is successfully rehabilitated, we continue to burden him or her with meetings
and fees that hinder the ability to get on with life.
Texas' probation lengths are far longer than is recommended by national
and state experts. As a result, we send 26,000 Texans to prison every year because they fail probation.
HB 2193 would increase judicial involvement with probationers by increasing
judicial compliance reviews. Every felony probationer who the court feels should be on probation for 10 years will still be
on probation for ten years, at the court's discretion.
Bradley asserts that the bill "will add no new services," but it would
basically double the number of drug courts in Texas.
It would add programs to support those courts, plus new funding. This
legislation is also part of a larger funding effort - the budget bills this session add an historic $60 million in new funds
to the Texas probation system and $10 million more for parole diversion.
Bradley also claims the legislation would "damage our ability to protect
society from criminals."
On the contrary, the legislation is founded on clear research from the
Department of Justice, the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, the Legislative Budget Board, the TDCJ Community Justice
Assistance Division, the Judicial Advisory Council, and numerous professors and other experts.
According to all of these experts, HB 2193 would reduce crime more effectively
than what we have now.
Bradley also says that the measure would "pressure judges" to release
probationers.
But HB 2193 would untie the hands of our courts so that judges would
have a great deal of new freedom to control probationer behavior.
Bradley attempts to alarm the public by claiming that courts would be
forced to wait until a defendant harms another victim before sending him to prison. No new crime is ever required by this
legislation before sending a probationer to prison.
The most disturbing aspect of Bradley's article involves the serious
issue of sex offenders and child molesters. Bradley claims that judges will lose authority over sex offenders, especially
child molesters. The only thing HB 2193 does for sex offenders is give them more intense supervision when they are on probation.
Bradley issued a written call to action to all Texas prosecutors to make
their voices heard at the Senate hearing last week. But no one other than John Bradley came to testify.
Our senators and representatives have studied these issues for years.
They know our system needs strengthening. Texas must make more effective use of the tax dollars we allocate to corrections.
We must do more to protect the public safety. HB 2193 would do just that.
Ann del Llano is an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union
of Texas. E-mail: delllano@earthlink.net.
