TO: | Honorable Ray Allen, Chair, House Committee on Corrections |
FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
IN RE: | SB921 by Whitmire (Relating to the authority of a judge to reduce or terminate the community supervision of a defendant convicted of an offense punishable as a state jail felony. ), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted |
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 of the original period of community supervision imposed, unless in the judge's opinion the best interest of society and the defendant will be served if the defendant remains under supervision. The bill would apply to state jail felons, but would not apply to sex offenders requiring registration, and DWI offenders.
The change in law would apply only to a defendant who is originally placed on community supervision on or after September 1, 2003.
In this analysis, it is assumed that 50% of offenders meeting the basic early termination requirements will be considered successful candidates by the courts. The 50% assumption is based on the current percentage of felony probationers under the minimum level of supervision and half of felony offenders under the medium level of supervision. It is also assumed that probationers who have been revoked to prison for a technical violation serve an average of 2.7 years before release. Probationers revoked to State Jail are assumed to have served 10 months before release.
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/State Jail Capacity | Decrease In Community Supervision Population |
---|---|---|
2004 | 0 | 0 |
2005 | 87 | 965 |
2006 | 644 | 21,382 |
2007 | 1,546 | 44,483 |
2008 | 2,312 | 47,834 |
Source Agencies: | 410 Criminal Justice Policy Council
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LBB Staff: | JK, GG
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