More than 400,000 Texans are on probation, including approximately 218,000 felony probationers. Revoked probationers account for 37% of prison intakes and 41% of state jail intakes. The 22,980 probationers revoked in 2015, including 12,330 revoked for technical violations such as missed appointments, are projected to serve an average of 2.5 years at a cost of $54.89 a day, resulting in an annual cost of $460 million.
Public Safety Starts With Solving Crimes, Not Just Reporting Them
When a violent crime is committed, it tends to feel not just unwarranted but random. When a murder, sex crime, or burglary happens, we often ask, “How did this happen?” Even worse is when a violent crime is committed by someone with a violent criminal past. We then demand to know, “How did this happen… again?” ...