Texas has the sixth highest incarceration rate in the nation and the most prisoners (147,000) of any state, about half of whom are nonviolent offenders. However, since 2005 when the state began strengthening probation and other alternatives to incarceration, the state’s incarceration rate has fallen more than 20%. During this same period, Texas’ crime rate has dropped more than 30%, reaching its lowest level since 1967.
2019-20 LEGISLATOR’S GUIDE TO THE ISSUES
A comprehensive guide to the most important issues facing Texas during the 86th Session of the Legislature. Among the issues covered in this Guide are education, taxes and spending, health care, effective justice, private property rights, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, tort reform, energy, and natural resources.