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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Criminal Justice Experts Seek Overhaul of Texas Bail-Bond Policies

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Friday, March 30, 2012   

AUSTIN, Texas - Dangerous criminals who can afford to post bond or bail in Texas are too often released, while others who pose no threat or flight risk languish in jail awaiting trial - with taxpayers picking up the tab. That's the premise behind a gathering of criminal justice experts in Austin today, as they explore strategies for reforming the state's pretrial detention policies.

Participants say Texas is falling behind other states that are increasingly relying on proven risk-assessment techniques, rather than defendants' ability to come up with bail money. As a result, says Dr. Ana Yáñez-Correa, executive director of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, half of a typical county budget in Texas goes toward jail services and maintenance.

"We're spending, as taxpayers, a lot of money to detain individuals who have not been found guilty and pose zero danger. So, Texas can do better in terms of public safety and saving taxpayers' dollars."

She cites the latest data from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, which reveals that more than 50 percent of people locked up in county jails at any given time have not been convicted.

Nationwide, almost a half-million people a day are in local jails awaiting trial for nonviolent offenses, costing taxpayers $9 billion a year, according to a report from the Pretrial Justice Institute.

Some states have already implemented so-called evidence-based pretrial reforms, and have seen no adverse impact on public safety, according to Correa. She thinks it doesn't help anyone - victims, taxpayers, or defendants - when low-risk detainees are not given an opportunity to post bond, or can't afford to do so.

"There [are] also collateral consequences to individuals waiting for that attorney, waiting to be bonded out, waiting for a trial. A lot of people end up losing their jobs; and right now, with the economy, we need to rethink that."

Today's roundtable participants hope to develop recommendations for the next legislature as it examines jail crowding issues. Hosted by the American Bar Association, it takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the John H. Reagan Building (Hearing Room 120), 105 W. 15th St., Austin.



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