Policy Studies Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties

Texas can reclaim justice reform by addressing juvenile justice issues

by Jesse Kelley

Feb 5, 2020

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Author

Jesse Kelley

Former Manager, Government Affairs; Manager, Criminal Justice & Civil Liberties

Key Points

By allowing young people the opportunity to demonstrate improvement sooner than the 40-year mandatory sentence, taxpayer money could be saved without causing a decrease in public safety.

The best legislative solution to correct this injustice has already been proposed in past sessions. “Raise the Age” legislation would have increased the automatic age of criminal jurisdiction from 17 to 18, meaning that minors would automatically be processed through the juvenile system. It also provided for judicial discretion to transfer youth with the most serious offenses to the adult system on a case-by-case basis.

Press Release

Justice Reform Can’t Ignore Juveniles in the Lone Star State

Introduction

Texas has become a leader in criminal justice reform by replacing old, “tough on crime” policies with more appropriate “smart on crime” ones. And although this new approach has seen success in the adult system, progress has stalled in the juvenile justice system. Accordingly, if Texas is to reassert its position as a leader in reforms, the best and most effective way is to improve their juvenile justice system by raising the age of criminal majority, by providing a “second look” for those juveniles who were sentenced to life in prison, and by shifting the way the state views and prosecutes youth who have committed serious and violent crimes.

Read the full study here.