Back in March I wrote about the number of people Harris County courts had let out on felony bond. The district attorney’s office was kind enough to update those figures under another Public Information Act request. This post looks at how the bond situation has changed in the past eight months.
By way of reminder, here is what the Texas Penal Code states the factors to consider are in determining bond:
Art. 17.15. RULES FOR FIXING AMOUNT OF BAIL. The amount of bail to be required in any case is to be regulated by the court, judge, magistrate or officer taking the bail; they are to be governed in the exercise of this discretion by the Constitution and by the following rules:
- The bail shall be sufficiently high to give reasonable assurance that the undertaking will be complied with.
- The power to require bail is not to be so used as to make it an instrument of oppression.
- The nature of the offense and the circumstances under which it was committed are to be considered.
- The ability to make bail is to be regarded, and proof may be taken upon this point.
- The future safety of a victim of the alleged offense and the community shall be considered.
So how have things changed?
To begin with, we now have 55,848 felony defendants out on bond (as of November 4, 2021) compared to 53,830 back in March, an increase of 3%. No discernible pattern could be detected regarding the type of crime that was being given bond. However, looking at the number of defendants out on bond by court revealed some striking data.
Looking at offenses shows not much has changed in the past eight months. It’s noteworthy the number of defendants out for murder/capitol murder is increasing by just under 2 per week (66 defendants in 35 weeks.) The number of defendants out on felony bond for prostitution has risen significantly, and likely is an artifact of the change in the state law and initiative by Councilman Pollard and Commissioner Ramsey dealing with the Bissonnet track. I office in the middle of the track, and it does seem like “business” along the track has ticked down.
Consolidated list of crimes: March/November +/- difference
| Animal Cruelty | 189/186 -3 | |||
| Arson | 84/79 -5 | |||
| Assault | 15290/14387 -903 | |||
| Auto Theft | 861/744 -117 | |||
| Burglary | 1938/1778 -160 | |||
| Capital Murder | 76/87 +11 | |||
| Child Abandon/Endanger | 276/282 +6 | |||
| Child Pornography | 63/74 +11 | |||
| Controlled Substance (excluding marijuana) | 7204/6566 -638 | |||
| Criminal Mischief | 1505/1666 +161 | |||
| Deadly Conduct | 131/186 +55 | |||
| DWI | 15186/15512 +326 | |||
| DWLI/DWLS | 263/108 -155 | |||
| Environmental | 137/146 +9 | |||
| Ex parte | 4/2 -2 | |||
| Failure to ID | 504/548 +44 | |||
| Firearm | 3776/4415 +639 | |||
| Fraud | 1594/1458 -136 | |||
| Gambling | 102/55 -47 | |||
| Human Trafficking | 187/172 -15 | |||
| Interfering/Obstruction/Resisting/Evading | 4034/3644 -392 | |||
| Kidnapping | 92/102 +10 | |||
| Liquor | 49/59 +10 | |||
| Manslaughter | 122/142 +20 | |||
| Marijuana | 316/389 +82 | |||
| Money Laundering | 94/90 -4 | |||
| Motor Vehicle – Intox Assault | 89/93 +4 | |||
| Motor Vehicle – Non-DUI | 1762/2408 +646 | |||
| Murder | 256/311 +55 | |||
| Organized Crime | 330/314 -16 | |||
| Other | 1605/1663 +58 | |||
| Prostitution | 413/611 +198 | |||
| Retaliation | 405/420 +15 | |||
| Robbery | 1570/1544 -26 | |||
| Sexual Assault | 1451/1635 +184 | |||
| Solicit/Conspiracy | 3/7 +4 | |||
| Stalking/Harrassment/Threat-FV | 1860/2018 +158 | |||
| Theft | 3842/3776 -66 | |||
| Trespass | 745/910 +165 | |||
| Violation of Protective Order | 642/844 +202 | |||
| Weapon | 907/936 +29 | |||
Looking at the number of defendants out on bond by court shows significant outliers both up and down. Note: I’m not displaying data for the 482 since it was not available back in March. The following courts had statistically significant increases in the number of defendants out on bond:
Court at Law: 3, 10, 13, 16 – with the 16th having a whopping 22% increase.
District Court: 179, 232, 337, 338.
The following courts had a statistically significant decrease in defendants out on bond:
Court at Law: 7
District Court: 174, 178, 184, 209 with the 178 and 184 both seeing a greater than 20% decrease in the number of defendants out on bond.
Court at Law
001 2662/2841 +179 +6%
002 2605/2659 +54 +2%
003 1558/1771 +213 +13%
004 2583/2559 -24 -1%
005 2012/2196 +184 +9%
006 2507/2545 +38 +1%
007 2162/1867 -295 -14%
008 2697/2666 -31 -1%
009 2258/2316 +58 +2%
010 2216/2620 +404 +18%
011 2643/2735 +92 +3%
012 2368/2723 +355 +3%
013 2575/2851 +276 +10%
014 1733/1870 +137 +7%
015 2281/2326 +45 +2%
016 2384/2908 +524 +22%
District Court
174 1928/1605 -323 -17%
176 1352/1259 -93 -7%
177 973/909 -64 -7%
178 1388/1069 -319 -23%
179 1775/2078 +303 +17%
180 1997/2115 +118 +5%
182 1566/1487 -79 -6%
183 1298/1212 -86 -7%
184 1424/1018 -406 -29%
185 2064/2125 +61 +2%
208 1847/1681 -166 -9%
209 1521/1333 -188 -13%
228 1750/1672 -78 -5%
230 1930/1764 -166 -9%
232 2028/2232 +204 +10%
248 1919/1899 -20 -3%
262 2130/2037 -93 -5%
263 1634/1594 -40 -3%
337 1150/1321 171 +14%
338 2039/2255 216 +10%
339 2194/2058 -136 -7%
351 2163/2136 -27 -2%
It is troubling that the fifth prong in the factors to be considered when assigning bail, “The future safety of a victim of the alleged offense and the community shall be considered.” appears to not be given much weight by the courts. We have just shy of 2 defendants per week who are alleged to have committed murder make bond. Violations of protective orders and other family violence offenses are also being released at an alarming rate of a tick over 10 per week (combined 360 in 35 weeks.)
We are almost in the primary season, and it’s time we take a hard look at the criminal judges up for election and our candidates who want to replace them. I will update these figures again when it’s close to the primary election.