Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yes | Neutral | Neutral | Positive | Positive | Positive |
HB 333, if passed, would amend the Code of Criminal
Procedure (Section 15, Article 42.12) by affecting procedures for defendants
under felony supervision. Namely, the bill would allow a judge to authorize, on
written motion, a review of the defendant’s record, a reduction of the jail
felony to a Class A misdemeanor, provided two-thirds of the original community
supervision period have been completed.
Certain conditions must be met, the most important of which
is that the felony in question must not have been burglary, burglary of a
vehicle, improper sexual activity with a person in custody, driving while intoxicated
with a child passenger, an offense against the person, an offense of failure to
comply with sex offender registration requirements, or an offense involving
family violence.
Other conditions include a fulfillment to the judge’s satisfaction
of community supervision requirements, the defendant not being delinquent on
any fines, defendant compliance with all conditions of community supervision,
copies of motions being provided to both the judge, and the state, and the
judge filing a record that the decision is in the best interest of justice.
HB 333 is a good bill in that it is a well-crafted and
focused way to provide introduce reasonable alternatives to the criminal
justice system. If an defendant has not committed an egregious crime, and if he
has complied with all rules and procedures during his incarceration, we see no
reason to oppose a lessening of the sentence, a goal which HB 333 seeks to
achieve. Aside from the compassionate reasons, such policies promote good behavior
and, more germane to our issues, is likely to benefit society by creating
positive incentives and by saving the taxpayer money by reducing prison maintenance
and recidivism costs. As such we support HB 333.