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5 Document(s) [ Subject: Youthful offenders ]

Committee:	House Youth Health and Safety, Select
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Child Protective Services | Children's health care | Children's mental health | Coronavirus | Emergency communications | Emergency management | Gun safety | Inmate rehabilitation | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services | School discipline | School safety | Shootings | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:
Session:	87th R.S. (2021)
Online version:	View report [56 pages  File size: 2,708 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Provide a cross-jurisdictional forum for the examination and consideration of issues that broadly affect the health, safety, and rights of Texas youth.
2.	Improve the ability of federal, state, and local governmental entities to address the needs of Texas youth through, among other things, expanded coordination between all programs and systems that serve youth and their families, including child protective services, mental health services, educational institutions, and the juvenile justice system.
3.	Study the allocation and use of state resources to preventative and rehabilitative services that address the primary challenges facing Texas youth placed in the juvenile justice system, including the redirection of those resources as necessary to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.
4.	Study the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health needs of Texas youth and identification of effective treatment strategies.
5.	Study the expansion of prevention efforts and the strengthening of service systems to permit the behavioral health challenges faced by Texas youth to be addressed closer to their homes, including efforts and systems that permit youth to remain in their classrooms and stay out of institutionalized healthcare and juvenile justice systems.
6.	Study programs, services, and governmental action focused on the rehabilitation of youthful offenders, including considerations related to developmental factors that impact a youth's entry into the justice system.
7.	Study the implementation and impact of SB 11, 86th R.S. and any other pertinent laws. Identify additional policies, protocols and strategies that will help create a safer environment in schools and local communities.
8.	Examine strategies to prevent acts of mass violence, including measures to enhance firearm safety in Texas.
9.	Evaluate the preparedness of and coordination between state and local agencies, nongovernmental entities, and law enforcement for the prevention of and response to mass violence, including the content and efficacy of active shooter response training.
10.	Examine the role of online communications in mass violence scenarios and identify technological resources and solutions for detecting, mitigating, and reporting threats.
11.	Study the needs of the state related to mental health professionals, educators, school administrators, and related professionals overseeing youth mental health programs and the delivery of those mental health services.
Committee:	House Corrections
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Alternatives to incarceration | Communicable diseases | Criminal justice | Criminal Justice, Texas Department of | Disease management | Disease preparedness | Disease prevention | Emergency management | Ex-offenders | Hot weather | Hurricane Harvey | Inmate lawsuits | Inmate sexual assaults | Natural disasters | Pardons and Paroles, Texas Board of | Parole | Prison Rape Elimination Act | Probation | Recidivism | Social workers | State jail system | Women | Women inmates | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:	L1836.85 C817
Session:	85th R.S. (2017)
Online version:	View report [75 pages]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Evaluate the Texas Department of Criminal Justice response to Hurricane Harvey. Recommend any changes that could improve the operational stability of state criminal justice institutions following a natural disaster and changes that would allow for a more effective response.
2.	Examine the use of social workers and peer support specialists in the Texas criminal justice system to assist individuals on probation, on parole, or who have been discharged, in order to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes. Identify best practices and make recommendations for legislative action.
3.	Examine the current Texas criminal justice system policies and practices regarding 17- to 25- year-olds, specific to probation, parole, state jail confinement, and discharge from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or county jail. Review any gaps in services that may be causing this population to recidivate. Make recommendations to improve the state's response to the needs of this population in order to lower revocation, re-arrest, and re-incarceration rates.
4.	Examine treatment options, services, and programs available to women in institutional settings, on community supervision, on parole, and in community-based programs. Make recommendations for best strategies to address the needs of women in the Texas criminal justice system.
5.	Review the Texas state jail system. Examine its original intent, sentencing guidelines, effectiveness, and recidivism rates. Make recommendations for changes in the state jail system. (Joint charge with the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence)
6.	Study policies and protocols within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Examine when protocols are implemented and their efficacy in protecting the health and safety of inmates and state employees.
7.	Review assessments used by the Board of Pardons and Paroles and parole panels to determine an inmate's risk of recidivism for purposes of granting parole and the use of GPS technology to monitor offenders.
8.	Monitor Texas prison system heat-related litigation currently making its way through the courts. Monitor Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) compliance within Texas state and county criminal justice facilities.
9.	Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 85th Legislature.
Committee:	Senate Criminal Justice
Title:	Interim Report
Subjects:	Alternatives to incarceration | Driving while intoxicated | Elderly inmates | Felonies | Inmate health | Juvenile crime | Juvenile justice system | Mentally ill inmates | Penalties and sentences (Criminal justice) | Probation | Texas Penal Code | Theft | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:	L1836.83 C868
Session:	83rd R.S. (2013)
Online version:	View report [85 pages]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Review cases involving the imposition of probation rather than imprisonment or commitment for adult and juvenile intoxication manslaughter offenders. Make recommendations to ensure that intoxication manslaughter sentences include appropriate punishment levels, maintain public safety, and serve to deter driving under the influence.
2.	Study the operations of the Texas prison system with respect to the medical and mental health care treatment. Study potential cost savings associated with identifying offenders with dual diagnoses and routing these individuals into appropriate services before, during, and after involvement with the criminal justice system. Study the way in which geriatric parole cases are currently evaluated and identify opportunities for reducing costs associated with the geriatric inmate population without compromising public safety.
3.	Study and make recommendations related to jail diversion, reduced recidivism rates, and access to services for those within the system who suffer from a mental illness. Monitor the progress and implementation of the jail diversion pilot program for the mentally ill in Harris County and determine the best practices to be applied statewide.
4.	Compile an inventory of all the juvenile specialty courts in the state, the juvenile population served, and the courts' program guidelines and practices. Identify gaps in services, geographically, by issue area, and juvenile population. Study the efficacy of each court through an analysis of recidivism rates and cost effectiveness and make recommendations regarding the best practices of juvenile specialty courts.
5.	Study and make recommendations regarding sentencing of youth under 18 accused of committing serious crimes.
6.	Study the value ladder of charges for theft and related offenses within the Texas Penal Code and recommend any necessary updates and proposed legislative reforms.
7.	Evaluate the approximately 1,500 non-traditional criminal offenses that can be found outside of the Penal Code. Study the feasibility of streamlining these offenses and examine ambiguities in the law. Analyze whether and to what extent some of these non-traditional criminal offenses should be eliminated.
Committee:	House Corrections
Title:	Interim Report
Library Catalog Title:	House Committee on Corrections, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2010 : a report to the House of Representatives, 82nd Texas Legislature
Subjects:	Alternatives to incarceration | County jails | Juvenile justice system | Juvenile Probation Commission, Texas | Municipal jails | Prison population | Prisoner re-entry | Prisons | Probation | Recidivism | Women inmates | Youth Commission, Texas | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:	L1836.81 C817
Session:	81st R.S. (2009)
Online version:	View report [120 pages  File size: 1,618 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Examine implementation of the diversion pilot programs, juvenile case management system, and other policy and funding initiatives to determine whether the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and the Texas Youth Commission have adhered to legislative directive in implementing these programs, and the impact of these programs on commitments at the Texas Youth Commission. Joint Interim Charge with House Committee on Appropriations
2.	Study and evaluate the availability and efficiency of community-based corrections supervision and treatment programs and their impact on prison capacity and recidivism rates. Determine whether the supervision and treatment programs have been designed in accordance with evidence-based practices and whether adequate evaluation methods have been incorporated.
3.	Study current re-entry programs and procedures across the juvenile and adult criminal justice continuum. Make recommendations to ensure that offenders who are released or discharged have the necessary supervision and access to employment, housing, treatment, and other support programs to allow successful entry and integration into the community. Evaluate the working relationship between state agencies facilitating re-entry and make recommendations on how to achieve greater efficiency and cost savings.
4.	Examine policies and programs designed to identify, divert, and enhance the supervision and treatment of special needs offenders within local jails and state correctional facilities. Recommend changes to address appropriate alternatives to incarceration or institutionalization.
5.	Review the range of services provided to females in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems and recommend changes to ensure responsiveness to gender-specific issues. Review should include institutional and community supervision programs and utilization of correctional facilities that house nonadjudicated populations.
6.	Monitor the agencies and programs under the committee's jurisdiction.
Committee:	Senate Criminal Justice
Title:	Interim Report
Library Catalog Title:	Interim report to the 81st Legislature
Subjects:	Capital murder trials | Child abuse | Correctional officers | Criminal justice | Criminal Justice, Texas Department of | Deferred adjudication | Drug trafficking | Homicide | Juvenile justice system | Mental health services | Mentally ill inmates | Methamphetamine | Occupational licenses | Ombudsmen | Pardons and Paroles, Texas Board of | Penalties and sentences (Criminal justice) | Police officers | Prison population | Prison security | Prisoner re-entry | Privately-operated prisons | Pseudoephedrine | Recidivism | Searches and seizures | Sex offenders | Substance abuse | Texas Code of Criminal Procedure | Theft | Youth Commission, Texas | Youthful offenders |
Library Call Number:	L1836.80 C868
Session:	80th R.S. (2007)
Online version:	View report [113 pages  File size: 13,967 kb]
Charges:	This report should address the charges below.
1.	Determine how private prisons are complying with state laws and how cost, safety, living conditions and rehabilitative services at private prisons compare with state-run facilities. Include an assessment of the staff turnover rates and compensation of private contractors when compared with state-operated facilities, and of the contract bidding processes used by the Texas Youth Commission and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
2.	Monitor the implementation of SB 103, 80th R.S., and the continuing reforms to the Texas Youth Commission and the juvenile criminal justice system. Identify barriers to effective implementation and provide recommendations to ensure that the goals of this legislation are achieved. Provide recommendations relating to best practices and identify needed additional treatment programs for juvenile sex offenders.
3.	Study the impact of laws designed to reduce illegal drug use and make recommendations for reducing access to illegal drugs and for developing best practices for preventative programs, focusing on drugs targeted for the younger population, such as cheese heroin. Assess the impact of limiting access to pseudoephedrine, including the impact restrictions have had on illegal manufacturers' methods for producing methamphetamine.
4.	Monitor the implementation of the new and expanded programs provided to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) within the Fiscal Year 2008 and 2009 budget, and identify their impact on the criminal justice populations. Study security issues within TDCJ, including staffing issues, use of lock down procedures, the control and containment of infectious diseases and the introduction and control of contraband within the institutions. Review the use of career ladders for employees of TDCJ and issues surrounding the retention of professional corrections staff. Study the issues of independent oversight of TDCJ, including the use and effectiveness of the TDCJ ombudsman system. Provide recommendations for the reduction or elimination of barriers to an effective corrections system.
5.	Study and make recommendations for reducing the number of law enforcement officer deaths in the line of duty. This study should include: an assessment of the types of calls and assignments that put law enforcement officers most at risk; the geographic regions of the state that suffer the most deaths; the agencies experiencing the highest rate of deaths in the line of duty; the time in an officer's career, and the officer's age that he or she is most susceptible to death in the line of duty; and the times of year, month, and day that are most dangerous.
6.	Study the issue of criminal asset seizure and the use of seized and forfeiture funds by district attorneys and law enforcement agencies. Review the oversight of these matters by the Texas Attorney General and provide recommendations to improve the dissemination of information concerning these funds. Ensure that these funds have the appropriate accountability and fiscal controls required for public funds.
7.	Study the system of deferred adjudication in Texas courts and make recommendations for resolving any problems and reducing the potential for release of dangerous criminals.
8.	Study and recommend best practices for reducing re-victimization of child abuse victims associated with delay in resolution of criminal cases. Recommend options for reducing the time lapse between child victimization and criminal hearings.
9.	Review the processes for re-entry of criminal offenders into communities. Identify barriers to the successful return to law-abiding behavior, including the absence of employment opportunities created by restriction on obtaining certain state occupational licenses. Provide recommendations for improvements to our current statutes governing this matter.
10.	Study whether Articles 36.09 (relating to trying multiple defendants from the same transaction either separately or jointly) and 36.10 (relating to severing defendants that show prejudice from a joint trial) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provide sufficient safeguards to ensure fair and reliable trial results in capital cases with multiple defendants. Determine whether the articles provide trial judges with sufficient instruction regarding joinder or severance of defendants and, if not, make recommendations to improve procedures.
11.	Study the relationship between the public mental health system and the criminal justice and civil courts systems, including the identification and sharing of information regarding mentally ill offenders, including minors, among criminal justice and mental health agencies, the courts, state hospitals, and the Veterans Administration. Study how current confidentiality laws impact the exchange of information among groups described above. Study the sentencing of mentally ill offenders compared to non-mentally ill offenders, including minors, and the affect that has on statewide prison capacity and on the health care provided to mentally ill offenders. (Joint Charge with Senate State Affairs Committee)
12.	Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Criminal Justice Committee, 80th R.S., and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance, and/or complete implementation. Specifically, report on the implementation of SB 909, 80th R.S., the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Sunset legislation, including provisions relating to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and monitor implementation of the new laws relating to copper theft (SB 1154, 80th R.S., HB 1766, 80th R.S., and HB 1767, 80th R.S.).

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