Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Some Texas cities are taking direct action to dial back the drug wars and reduce their jail population.
As lawmakers have wrestled in recent years with easing restrictions on marijuana use — an issue they likely will confront again when they convene in January — prosecutors in the state's most populated areas are relaxing their pursuit of cases that involve recreational amounts of the drug.
An American-Statesman analysis shows those practices are resulting in a spike of marijuana dismissals in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis and Tarrant counties. In each of the five counties, the rate of dismissal has risen since 2011, dramatically in some places. The trend also appears to be playing out statewide, where 23 percent of all misdemeanor marijuana cases were dismissed in 2011. In 2015, nearly a third were.
Yet that doesn't mean Texas is witnessing de facto legalization: the number of new misdemeanor pot cases filed by police has stayed relatively constant.
The rate of dismissals is increasing fastest in North Texas. According to data kept by the Texas Office of Court Administration, Tarrant County prosecutors went from dismissing just 9 percent of cases five years ago to 24.3 percent last year. In Dallas County, the dismissal rate more than doubled, from 18 percent in 2011 to 41 percent last year.
Someone nabbed with a small amount of weed in Harris County in 2011 had about a 1 in 5 chance of getting the case dismissed; now it's about 2 in 5 after officials developed a deferral program in which defendants have their cases thrown out if they meet certain qualifications.
In Travis County, prosecutors in recent years also have dismissed a greater percentage of marijuana cases. But much like in Bexar County, the frequency of dismissals was already significantly higher than in other counties.
For instance, Travis County in 2011 dismissed 42.6 percent of all resolved cases, compared to a statewide average of 22.9 percent.
Most of this is just due to prosecutors not wanting to pursue such minor offenses, and who can blame them? It's not a substitute for policy, or a change in state law that would institutionalize this behavior. That's still needed, even if the Legislature isn't ready for it.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Reducing Pot Prosecutions One County At A Time
Author: Charles Kuffner
Contact: Off The Kuff
Photo Credit: Rashad Sisemore
Website: Off The Kuff
As lawmakers have wrestled in recent years with easing restrictions on marijuana use — an issue they likely will confront again when they convene in January — prosecutors in the state's most populated areas are relaxing their pursuit of cases that involve recreational amounts of the drug.
An American-Statesman analysis shows those practices are resulting in a spike of marijuana dismissals in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis and Tarrant counties. In each of the five counties, the rate of dismissal has risen since 2011, dramatically in some places. The trend also appears to be playing out statewide, where 23 percent of all misdemeanor marijuana cases were dismissed in 2011. In 2015, nearly a third were.
Yet that doesn't mean Texas is witnessing de facto legalization: the number of new misdemeanor pot cases filed by police has stayed relatively constant.
The rate of dismissals is increasing fastest in North Texas. According to data kept by the Texas Office of Court Administration, Tarrant County prosecutors went from dismissing just 9 percent of cases five years ago to 24.3 percent last year. In Dallas County, the dismissal rate more than doubled, from 18 percent in 2011 to 41 percent last year.
Someone nabbed with a small amount of weed in Harris County in 2011 had about a 1 in 5 chance of getting the case dismissed; now it's about 2 in 5 after officials developed a deferral program in which defendants have their cases thrown out if they meet certain qualifications.
In Travis County, prosecutors in recent years also have dismissed a greater percentage of marijuana cases. But much like in Bexar County, the frequency of dismissals was already significantly higher than in other counties.
For instance, Travis County in 2011 dismissed 42.6 percent of all resolved cases, compared to a statewide average of 22.9 percent.
Most of this is just due to prosecutors not wanting to pursue such minor offenses, and who can blame them? It's not a substitute for policy, or a change in state law that would institutionalize this behavior. That's still needed, even if the Legislature isn't ready for it.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Reducing Pot Prosecutions One County At A Time
Author: Charles Kuffner
Contact: Off The Kuff
Photo Credit: Rashad Sisemore
Website: Off The Kuff
