HARRIS COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

HARRIS COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT PROJECT PHASE 1 REPORT

By Barry Mahoney and Elaine Nugent-Borakove

October 2009 The Justice Management Institute

1888 Sherman Street Denver, Colorado 80203

Tel: 303-831-7564

HARRIS COUNTY CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT PROJECT PHASE 1 REPORT

By Barry Mahoney and Elaine Nugent-Borakove, JMI

With

Gary Bowker, ACS Frank Domurad, The Carey Group Teri K. Martin, Law & Policy Associates

Andrew Sonner Debra Whitcomb, JMI

October 2009

The Justice Management Institute 1888 Sherman Street

Denver, Colorado 80203 Tel: 303-831=7564

This report has been prepared pursuant to a contract between Harris County and The Justice Management Institute. Conclusions and opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and The Justice Management Institute.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction and Acknowledgements

Overview: Main Themes from the Study The Current Situation: Key Facts and Relevant Trends Strengths of the System

Key Issues Recommendations

A. Recommendations for rapidly reducing the jail population B. Recommendations for strengthening the County's capacity for justice system oversight, planning, policy development,

and resource allocation C. Recommendations concerning specific aspects of system operations

Arrest policies and practices Prosecutorial policies and practices Indigent defense services Bond amounts and utilization of pretrial services Forensic testing Caseflow management in the courts Probation policies and practices D. Recommendations concerning provision of treatment and related services needed to address problems of substance abuse and mental illness E. Recommendations concerning development of information systems, research capabilities, and education and training

Appendix A: List of Persons Interviewed

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INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report presents preliminary findings and recommendations from a study of the criminal justice system in Harris County conducted by The Justice Management Institute (JMI). The first phase of the study has three main objectives:

1. Develop baseline information about the current situation and recent trends with respect to criminal justice system operations;

2. Identify system strengths and key issues that warrant further investigation and possible development of alternative processes; and

3. Formulate plans for further research and consideration of alternative processes that can (a) improve justice system operations; and (b) reduce or contain the costs of system operation.

The report reviews the structure and processes for handling felony and misdemeanor cases in Harris County from the time of initial arrest through to resolution of the cases that are filed and, in some instances, through post-conviction proceedings involving motions to revokes probation. From the outset, a primary focus of the project has been on the population of the Harris County Jail, which stood at 11,546 as we began on-site work on the project in February 2009. The jail population issues have not been the sole focus of the project, however, and this report covers a wide range of areas. Some of these areas are related to the jail population problems, while others are largely independent of those problems but affect the overall fairness and cost-effectiveness of system operations. In preparing the report, we have used a variety of approaches to gather relevant data, including:

Review of existing documents (including prior studies of aspects of Harris County criminal justice system operations) and management information reports;

Interviews and focus group meetings with judges, other elected officials, and senior-level staff members in all of the organizational entities that have roles in criminal case processing, as well as officials in the County's Department of Management Services, the County Attorney's office, and the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority;

Observation of jail facilities and court proceedings; and

Review of national standards and of good or promising criminal case practices followed in other large urban jurisdictions.

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In conducting the study and preparing this report, we have had excellent assistance from an excellent group of criminal justice professionals who worked with us on the JMI team responsible for the study: Gary Bowker, Frank Domurad, Teri Martin, Andy Sonner, and Debra Whitcomb. They conducted many of the interviews and provided thoughtful input that helped shape the content of the report and the recommendations. The JMI team has received wonderful cooperation from everyone with whom team members have had contact while working in Harris County during the February ? August period. We particularly want to express strong appreciation to the Harris County Director of Management Services, Dr. Dick Raycraft, and to Clarissa Stephens, an Assistant Director in the Office of Budget Management and now (since August 2009) the Deputy Director of the newly created Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, for their guidance and support throughout our work on the project. All of the Harris County practitioners with whom we met were helpful and candid, and the report owes a very great deal to their thoughtful comments and observations. A list of all of the persons interviewed is included in an appendix to the report.

No report on a complex criminal justice system such as the one in Harris County can completely capture all of the nuances of system operation or all of the dynamics of the many processes in the county. We believe, however, that this report presents a fair and realistic picture of the system as we observed it during a five-month period earlier this year. In June 2009, JMI submitted a Preliminary Report to Commissioners Court, with the study's principal findings and recommendations. We note that two of the recommendations included in the Preliminary Report have already been acted upon by the Commissioners Court (in creating a new Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and an Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator) and that Commissioners Court has indicated that it would like to have the new CJCC pursue implementation of other JMI recommendations.

This report updates the Preliminary Report and provides considerably more information and commentary relevant to the recommendations. We hope it will be useful to members of the CJCC and to other Harris County officials as they undertake efforts to improve the County's criminal justice system.

As the authors of the document, we are enormously grateful for the contributions of everyone who has helped with the work of the project and the preparation of this report. Those individuals are, of course, they are in no way responsible for the presentation or interpretation of data in the report or for any errors of commission or omission. Those responsibilities lie with us.

Barry Mahoney Elaine Nugent-Borakove

October 2009

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