NCJ Number
142598
Date Published
1992
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This report illustrates past crime trends and identifies strategic issues critical to criminal justice policy development in Texas.
Abstract
The data included in this report provide information on violent crime in Texas, the Texas crime rate compared to the Nation in 1990, adult arrests, prison capacity and construction, and jail backlog. Total index crimes in Texas have declined since reaching a peak in 1988, but violent index crimes increased in 1990. The crime rate in Texas ranks fourth in the United States, after the District of Columbia, Florida, and Arizona. Texas faces a crossroads in criminal justice policy in the 1990's. Policymakers need to design more responsive policies to deal with crime and criminal justice. It is necessary to enact policies that cut across agency boundaries and deal with the overlapping needs of the offender population such as employment, adult education, substance abuse treatment, and crisis intervention. 7 charts and 17 references