The provisions of the bill addressing time credited toward a defendant's sentence are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to sentencing and time credit.  Under the provisions of the bill, the convicting judge may, under certain circumstances, award additional time credit for previous confinement.

Allowing for time to be credited toward a sentence is expected to result in fewer demands upon the correctional resources of the counties and of the State due to shorter periods of time on community supervision or shorter periods of confinement in state correctional institutions after sentence length is adjusted for time credit received under the provisions of the bill.  The bill may have a positive population impact by decreasing the amount of time people remain under felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would have a significant impact on correctional populations is indeterminate due to a lack of statewide data indicating whether a defendant served a sentence in a county jail for another case and, if so, the actual length of time served. Information on the actual amount of time an individual served in county jail is necessary to determine the amount of time which, under the provisions of the bill, would be credited toward a defendant's sentence.