More Texas sentencing grits

Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast (which I have now added to my blogroll) has been doing an especially strong job lately covering drug sentencing and the economics of sentencing in Texas. 

For example, this morning Scott has this interesting post about Texas criminal justice officials pleading with the Texas Legislature to restore drug treatment funding for parolees, while claiming that cuts to treatment programs in 2003 led to greater recidivism.  Scott’s report is an interesting follow-up to this prior post about the efficacy of drug courts in Texas.

And yesterday, Scott thoughtfully reported here on a state bill “which would lower the penalty in Texas for possession of less than an ounce of pot to a class C misdemeanor, which is the equivalent of a fine-only traffic ticket.”  Both Scott’s post and this news story highlight the state economic benefits that could flow from such a sentencing reform.