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Texas criminal justice system can’t keep up with Austin’s greed

Grits opined on the failure of our criminal justice system as a revenue collection agency. The Texas criminal justice system has billed out but failed to collect $1 billion in fines and fees last year.

As a front line observer of this taxation/extortion scheme let me offer some insight. The criminal justice system in Texas is built on a foundation of government greed and bloated budgets. It’s a cheap political ploy to say that “drunk drivers” should pay more.

From the Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN — All available Texas troopers will be on patrol over the holidays at a time when drinking and driving usually go up.

The Department of Public Safety on Monday said troopers also will concentrate on speeders and seat belt violators.

Deferred adjudication is the cause of a lot of confusion among defendants and attorneys. The main reason- deferred cases (except traffic tickets) can NOT be expunged. That pot case you took deferred probation on 5 years ago…. still on your record. Luckily, there are Texans dedicated to reforming this system and giving deserving defendants a clean record.

Here is an Interview with Rob Sandifer of the Texas Association for Justice and Legal Reform.

(1) Name/Background:

Most readers are aware that I had an earlier career as a prosecutor. My first blog, I Was The State, was named after this experience. To summarize- I spent two years prosecuting misdemeanor cases in two Texas counties (Bowie and Kaufman).

Did prosecuting cases make me a better defense lawyer?

I used to believe that my time spent as an ADA was valuable for my defense clients. Defending People’s (by Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer Mark Bennett) frequent criticism of ex-prosecutor advertising and experience led me to question my assumption. Mark has several good posts on the subject.

SEO Spammers vs. Legit Blawgers- Round 1

The seo spam comment machines have targeted my blog. I’ve had at least one spam comment per day for the last week. At first, I was naive enough to think that my out of state lawyer audience had vastly increased. After all, I was getting comments from Maryland and California attorneys. A little investigation (and the fact that most attorneys don’t write like 3rd graders) led to my conclusion this is all SEO spam.

If misleading advertising is wrong, why are lawyers signing up with companies that have a business model (SEO) built on deception and manipulation? I believe the heart of the problem is that most attorneys don’t understand the internet, or how SEO companies operate. Most attorneys just want to pay more to get more clients- just like the phone book model. The great thing about blogging is that content is rewarded. Even a low budget blogger site can generate thousands of readers. For example, the best criminal justice blog, Grits For Breakfast, is a free blogger product. Grit’s author Scott Henson didn’t hire a team of pro spammers to get readers, he wrote great copy,

Every fall brings about an influx of phone book representatives. They ascend upon law offices searching for easy ad revenue. For most attorneys it is a non decision- they are bound by fear and tradition to keep advertising in the phone book.

The phone book rep will always tell you that your neighbor just bought a bigger ad with better fonts and colors. This begets an advertising arms race. It reminds me of the same herd/fear mentality that caused the purchase of so many study aids in law school. Among 1Ls there was a near universal purchase of all the “right” study aids. If your peers bought the Torts flash cards and you didn’t, you were at a perceived disadvantage. Many of these study tools went unused and later are sold at a discount to the incoming 1Ls. The same mentality makes the attorney phone ad game alive.. After all, lawyers are simply older 1Ls.

When I began my practice conventional wisdom held that the phone book was the best way to reach new clients. I disagree and this year I am not renewing my phone book ads.

The election of Matt Shirk as Public Defender in Florida begs two questions.

1- How should chief public defenders be chosen?

2- Who is Matt Shirk?

Blogging inspiration can be hard to come by. In the past my goal was to write almost every day. Now I’m down to about 4.5 posts a week. One reason is I do a lot more self editing and censorship.

Long time readers will remember IWasTheState.com, my first blog. That blog included discussions on free market ideas, libertarian politics, objectivism, the national debt etc. It was an informal blogspot (blogger) project. My first post was about my trip to Italy.

Last year I dumped IWTS for DallasCrimianlDefenseLawyerBlog. Even the title indicates that I’m bowing to the Google search engine gods. The quest for SEO relevancy/more hits has led to more self censorship than before (not less grammatical errors however).

An article in the Dallas Morning News today highlights the stringent parole conditions for sex offenders. In Texas, most parolees for sex offenses are required to comply with Condition X.

What is condition X?

The most intense regulation of nearly every aspect of the parolee’s life.

Austin’s Scott Henson is the author of Texas’ leading criminal justice blog, Grits For Breakfast.

Scott Henson is also white. Scott has a two year old granddaughter who is black.

Yesterday, while walking his granddaughter to a park in Austin, Scott was interrogated, detained, and harassed by no less than 3 officer in 3 separate patrol cars. The officers demanded to know what Scott was doing and where he was going.