Harris County’s Justice Administration Department analyzes data to identify and develop recommendations to solve issues in the county’s criminal justice system. SOURCES: RESTORING JUSTICE, HARRIS COUNTY JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
SCRUTINIZING THE SYSTEM
Dashboard
Recent improvements
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TRAFFIC STOP DEMOGRAPHICS
CASE BACKLOG
providing additional spaces for jury trials and bringing in resources to assist with logging evidence at the sheri ’s o ce. Armand said the case backlog declined from 95,000 in June to 89,000 in November, crediting the Commissioners Court’s investments in jury operations as the most signi - cant factor. “In a di erent world, [the JAD] would be an agency that can proac- tively look at reports and do a lot of things that address issues that people are curious about, but in this world right now, it’s been about damage con- trol, about supporting Commission- ers Court, helping as many players as possible to get through some of these challenges,” Correa said. Still, data from the JAD has high- lighted challenges, including racial pro ling in law enforcement agencies across the county. A June report found Hispanic drivers were more likely to receive citations and Black drivers were more likely to experience bodily injury because of the use of force than other racial and ethnic groups. “I think it’s been proven over and over again through research and data that there is a racial injustice problem in Harris County,” Wiley said. “I think things like that is what JAD is pulling together to hopefully convince more people ... to start acting to change PROBLEM Public defenders are appointed in only 11.93% of cases. ATTORNEY APPOINTMENTS SOLUTIONS The JAD created a dashboard to better track who is getting court-appointed attorneys by judge. Commissioners Court approved the JAD’s advisory model U visa policy, which helps noncitizen survivors of crime come forward without fear of deportation.
PROBLEM As of Feb. 15, the Harris County Jail had 9,280 of its 9,369 beds lled, raising concerns about overcrowding. JAIL OVERCROWDING 99%of beds occupied.
PROBLEM Courts have been operating at 25% in-person capacity
PROBLEM Men were twice as likely as women to be pulled over. More citations were issued in lieu of verbal warnings to Hispanic drivers . Force that results in bodily injury was used against Black drivers more frequently than other groups.
when Harris County is in coronavirus threat level red, making it more di cult to hold jury trials and causing case backlogs.
SOLUTIONS The JAD’s website houses a dashboard created to
SOLUTIONS
Commissioners Court investments in jury operations helped reduce the case backlog from 95,000 in June to 89,000 in November. The Harris County District Attorney’s O ce added resources to the sheri ’s o ce to assist with the discovery process. Commissioners Court approved the expansion of emergency response dockets that make use of visiting judges.
understand the jail population, including inmate demographics and o enses.
SOLUTIONS
The JAD created a dashboard with tra c stop data from law enforcement agencies statewide. Some local law enforcement agencies disseminate a card at tra c stops which drivers can use to relay complaints. JAD recommended agencies add a racial pro ling complaint form on their websites in English and Spanish. The JAD is creating a use-of- force policy tool kit for county law enforcement agencies.
$50 million neighborhood cleanup initiative in high-crime areas and launched both the Holistic Alternative Responder Team and the Gun Vio- lence Interruption Program. Funding for law enforcement agencies has also increased 22% in the past ve years, according to county budget data. Howard Henderson, professor and director of the Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern Univer- sity, said the JAD’s work is helping the county rethink its approach to justice. “I think the social work model that Harris County is implementing is the right thing to do because many times mental health cases and domestic violence cases turn sour unnecessar- ily only because we don’t have the trained personnel dealing with them,” he said. Harris County Precinct 3 Commis- sioner Tom Ramsey announced in January the launch of a new crime task force to reduce violent crime. According to JAD data, the county’s crime rate overall has decreased by about 6% since 2015. However, crime was up year over year in both 2019 and 2020, and Harris County’s crime rate was higher than that of Los Angeles, Kings and Cook coun- ties during that time. Harris County Precinct 4 Consta- ble Mark Herman said he believes too many criminal cases are being “arbitrarily dismissed.” In late 2021 he began re ling cases that had been dis- missed by judges, he said. “This is a very bad message not only to our citizens out there, but it sends a message to the criminals, and it emboldened them to make them to go out and commit more crimes and make them victimize more people,” Herman said. Truong said Beacon Law received a
local individuals facing homelessness. Drew Wiley, CEO and founder of Restoring Justice, another Hous- ton-area nonpro t, said when he started the organization in 2016, 97% of indigent cases were appointed to private attorneys who were juggling up to 10 times the state-researched maximum caseload. Six years later, that number has decreased as the county public defender’s o ce takes onmore indigent cases. But Wiley said there is still much work to be done. “The hardest thing is that the people in the jail are not feeling the e ects of anything that’s been done by systemactors,” he said. “It’s always Commissioners Court, in response to George Floyd protests—they want to issue these studies and these narra- tives. And that’s ne, [but] show me one person in jail that has been pos- itively impacted by the action you want to do.” Challenges in the system JAD Special Projects Administra- tor Stephanie Armand said a series of disasters in recent years—from Hurri- cane Harvey to the pandemic—has put the county at a disadvantage. Ine ciencies, such as judges shar- ing courtroom spaces and courts shifting to Zoom operations for sev- eral months, meant case backlogs grew signi cantly, Armand said. Rec- ommendations from the JAD to help chip away at that backlog included
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practices so that violence can be stopped, the trauma from that violence can be addressed, [and] the reduction of racial and economic disparities can also be addressed all while attempt- ing to minimize criminal justice expo- sure as much as possible,” JAD interim Director Ana Yáñez Correa said. Since its inception, the JAD has cre- ated public dashboards presenting data on the jail population, county tra c stop demographics, caseload data for private indigent defense attor- neys, and crime trends comparing Harris County to other major counties across the state and country. This data and collaboration with other criminal justice agencies help JAD o cials develop recommenda- tions for potential improvements. “Our clients falling through the cracks happens so much because we’re working with this system that is constantly inundated and stretched. People get lost in the system, and if we’re able to look at those trends and identify where those gaps are and address them, I think we would be much better o ,” said Stephanie Truong, program director of Beacon Law, a program of Houston-based nonpro t The Beacon, which serves
things for individuals.” Addressing public safety
In addition to investing in jury operations, Commissioners Court has taken steps to help reduce crime and alleviate system challenges. In 2021, the court approved a
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