Criminal Sentencing and Incarceration in Texas

The Texas criminal justice system has taken the traditional tough-on-crime theories to an extreme, and now 1 in every 20 adults in Texas is under the control of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (either in prison or on probation or parole supervision, just one rule-violation away from being sent to prison). 

Texas spends over $5 billion on the Texas prison system every two years, but it is never enough because each year more Texans are sent to prison than the year before.  Today, Texas keeps hundreds of inmates in county jail beds because our prisons are full.  County jails are also overflowing in every urban area in Texas, and the county jail budget makes up the largest and fastest-growing piece of most Texas county budgets.

But has Texas' tough-on-crime approach worked?  Texas has no better crime rate than other states that do not imprison so many residents.  In fact, research shows that incarceration makes non violent offenders worse criminals, increasing the number of crimes and the number of victims in our communities.  It is time for Texas to re-evaluate who it is putting behind bars.