AUSTIN –The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Effective Justice Director Marc Levin will participate in a press conference on House Bill 48 TODAY, Monday June 1, at 3:00 p.m. or 30 minutes after the Texas House adjourns, in the Speaker’s Conference Room, room 2W.15 at the State Capitol. HB 48 creates a commission to review convictions after exoneration and aims to prevent wrongful conviction. Governor Abbott is expected to sign the legislation into law today.
“We are very pleased that Texas has taken yet another step in smart criminal justice reform by establishing an Innocence Commission with the signing of House Bill 48,” said Levin. “While our justice system usually reaches the correct outcome, we must do everything possible to learn from those cases where it does not.
“Too many Texans have been wrongfully convicted from Michael Morton to Anthony Graves. Though years spent in prison can never be relived, we owe it to them and all Texans to do more than praise court rulings that eventually exonerate one individual after another. After all, when a plane crashes, we don’t just stop after the rescue and recovery operation, but we then try to figure out how to make aviation safer. Similarly, the Innocence Commission will serve as a mechanism to systematically identify common errors that lead to wrongful convictions and develop policies and practices that could avoid future injustices.
“In the 2013 session, the Texas Public Policy Foundation worked with lawmakers on the Innocence Commission proposal that ultimately, after some negotiations, came to fruition in 2015. It is a true victory for all Texans. We commend legislative leaders for continuing this effort and Governor Greg Abbott for deciding to sign this important legislation.”
| WHO: |
Marc Levin, Director, Center for Effective Justice, TPPF |
| WHAT: |
Press Conference on HB 48 |
| WHEN:
|
Monday, June 1, 2015 3:00 p.m. CDT or 30 minutes after final adjournment |
| WHERE: | Texas State Capitol, Room 2W.15 |
Marc A. Levin is Director of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.