Texas became the unlikely birthplace of conservative criminal justice reform, and the Foundation helped make it happen. Our Right On Crime campaign started here in 2007, and it has since carried those ideas into 16 other states and to Congress, where it backed the federal First Step Act. The message stays the same wherever it goes: a justice system should be judged by whether it protects public safety, individual liberties, and taxpayer dollars.
That work runs across the whole system. We research bail policies that turn on risk instead of a defendant’s ability to pay, along with civil asset forfeiture, grand jury reform, juvenile justice, and the occupational licensing rules that keep rehabilitated former offenders out of honest work. Public safety and second chances are not opposites. Our latest criminal justice coverage is below.