Incentivizing Lower Crime, Lower Costs…

April 5, 2011

Marc Levin, J.D.

Marc A. Levin is the Chief Policy Counsel at the Council on Criminal Justice and Senior Advisor to Right on Crime.

Reinvigorating Federalism and Fiscal Discipline in Texas: Establishing the Office of State Sovereignty

Texas governments received $84.3 billion in federal funding in 2023, raising concerns over financial dependency and regulatory consequences. Creating an Office of State Sovereignty to monitor the application, receipt, and conditions of this aid could mitigate fiscal risk and improve transparency. Key points: Texas lacks a centralized system to oversee federal grants potentially flowing to...

September 9, 2026

Criminal Justice

License plate readers can aid police — but Texas needs guardrails

Earlier this summer, two Texas law enforcement agencies announced investigations involving the alleged misuse of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. In Fort Bend County, a sheriff’s lieutenant admitted to conducting repeated searches unrelated to official law enforcement duties nearly 200 times. Shortly thereafter, Baytown Police opened internal affairs and criminal investigations into allegations that an...

August 19, 2026

Criminal Justice

Prosecute Traffickers, Not Victims

The central paradox of human trafficking is that victims, not traffickers, are most likely to face criminal charges. In fact, an individual is more likely to be struck by lightning than prosecuted for trafficking. Which begs the question, why? How Traffickers Turn Victims into Defendants To start, prosecutors and law enforcement act on the best available information...

September 1, 2026

Marc Levin, J.D.

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Reinvigorating Federalism and Fiscal Discipline in Texas: Establishing the Office of State Sovereignty

License plate readers can aid police — but Texas needs guardrails

Prosecute Traffickers, Not Victims