Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB566 by Christian (Relating to the murder of certain individuals protected under a court order as a capital offense.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code making the murder of certain individuals protected under a court order a capital offense.
A capital felony is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a penalty is applied for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties and or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. In fiscal year 2010, 191 people were arrested, five people were placed on felony community superivison, and 23 people were admitted to prison for the offense of murder. Although the number of those whose victim was the subject of a court order at the time is unknown, it is assumed the number of offenders convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.