FORT WORTH — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently championed a new law passed by the Texas Legislature that would punish district attorneys for electing not to prosecute crimes as a blanket policy.
Texas recently passed a law designed to prevent district attorneys from adopting non-prosecution policies and enable citizens to hold their local DAs accountable.
“District attorneys are elected to uphold Texas law and help keep our communities safe,” Abbott said. “When they fail to do so, Texans should be able to hold them accountable.”
“I signed a law this year to rein in rogue DAs who refuse to enforce the law or prosecute certain types of crime,” he added.
In Dallas County, District Attorney John Creuzot previously instituted a sweeping amnesty practice for anyone who stole $100 to $750 worth of goods. He ultimately reversed the policy, however, after prolonged public outcry and resistance from other law enforcement agencies in the area, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Abbott recently signed House Bill 17, as reported by The Dallas Express, which forbids “a prosecuting attorney’s adoption or enforcement of a policy of refusing to prosecute a class or type of criminal offense under state law or instructing law enforcement to refuse to arrest individuals suspected of committing a class or type of offense under state law.”
If a DA or prosecuting attorney does adopt such a policy, “A petition for removal of a prosecuting attorney may be filed by any resident who … lives or has lived for at least six months in the county in which the alleged cause of removal occurred and who is not currently charged with a criminal offense in that county.”
The bill received pushback during public testimony on the proposal, with some claiming it would wrongly require district attorneys to enforce state laws they disagree with.
For example, Austin resident Erich Fields said, “This bill would force prosecutors to obey a blatantly illegal directive to prosecute parents of transgender children, who support their children under advice from their physician, for child abuse.”
“It’s disgusting, illegal, and everyone involved should be ashamed,” Fields continued.
Others, however, named DAs they believed the statute would and should be enforced upon first.
David Norris responded to Abbott’s statement, saying, “You need to remove some DA’s soon like John Cruezot [sic] of Dallas County before we are destroyed.”
A recent national survey showed that 71% of Americans wanted police to enforce “minor offenses” such as shoplifting and other similar crimes, as reported by The Dallas Express.
