Texas lawmakers are considering changing bail laws to prevent violent or sexual crime defendants from leaving jail on bond.
Some Texas Republicans have been pushing for these stricter measures during recent legislative sessions. They have underscored the recent rise in crimes committed by individuals out on bond for prior offenses.
Last November, The Dallas Express reported on the results of a study commissioned by Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia into the consequences of the so-called “bail reform” movement championed by Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot. The study found that approximately 56% of suspects accused of violent crimes or weapons violations in Dallas had been released on bail or on their own recognizance. Of these, almost 25% ended up arrested again.
The effects of the bail reform movement stretch far beyond the Lone Star State, as a summit of the U.S. Conference of Mayors a few weeks ago demonstrated. As The Dallas Express reported, Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez, a Republican, called bail reform a “failed policy” that threatened public safety.
“We also must revisit failed policies like no cash bail, which seem to be contributing to the spike in violent crime in our cities,” Suarez added.
In Texas, Senate Bill 6 in 2021 sought to set limits on low and no-cost bonds — such as GPS ankle monitoring — by making defendants with histories of violent crimes ineligible to acquire personal bonds. SB 6, named the Damon Allen Bill after a Texas officer killed by a defendant out on a $15,500 bond during a traffic stop in 2017, was passed in large part due to Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts.
In the recent debate, some Texas Democrats have argued this bill did little to address the bail problem, as defendants with a previous conviction for a violent crime can still obtain bail if they can afford to pay the cash bond amount set by the court.
In fact, the Texas Constitution currently makes it very difficult to deny bail to defendants. While Republicans did propose an amendment that would loosen some of these restrictions in 2021, it did not get enough support from the Democrats to pass, as per the San Antonio Express-News.
In the upcoming session, Sen. Joan Hoffman (R-Houston) will push for this proposal to amend the constitution once again. The changes would allow judges to restrict bail “under some circumstances to a person accused of a violent or sexual offense,” according to the San Antonio Express-News.
For the Democrats favorable to an amendment, it comes with a quid pro quo of tackling what they see as other outstanding carceral issues.
State Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston), for instance, seeks a commitment to dealing with the backlog of criminal cases seen in many Texas counties, including Dallas County. As The Dallas Express previously reported, this backlog is costly since the courts’ failure to meet the disposition rate threshold of 90% disqualifies the county from state grants.
Gov. Abbott remains in support of an amendment to the constitution in order “to keep dangerous criminals behind bars.”
“I signed a bail reform law last session to try to strengthen bail policies,” Abbott said last fall, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. “But to make sure that we achieve what we needed to achieve, we also needed to amend the Texas Constitution.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Sen. Hoffman and Gov. Abbott’s offices for comment, but no response was received by the time of publication.