LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT STATEMENT
 
78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 31, 2003

TO:
Honorable Ray Allen, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
 
FROM:
John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB2624 by Haggerty (Relating to early release from community supervision.), As Introduced

Assuming that sentencing patterns and release

The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by requiring judges to dismiss the proceedings and discharge a defendant from community supervision when the defendant has successfully completed one-third or two years of his sentence, whichever is less.  The bill would not apply to state jail felons, sex offenders requiring registration, and DWI offenders. 

 

In this analysis, it is assumed that probationers who have been revoked to prison for a technical violation serve an average of 2.7 years before release. 

 

The change in law would apply on or after September 1, 2003, but it is assumed that it would take a year for the full reduction in supervision population to be achieved due to the challenges with implementing early release for such a large number of eligible offenders. 

 

Assuming that sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five years following passage, in terms of daily demand upon the adult corrections agencies, is estimated as follows:



Fiscal Year Decrease In Demand For Prison Capacity Decrease In Community Supervision Population
2004 403 14,296
2005 1,283 28,491
2006 2,048 28,286
2007 2,564 28,303
2008 2,982 28,037


Source Agencies:
410 Criminal Justice Policy Council
LBB Staff:
JK, GG