Among those assisting Texas Appleseed in preparing the report were the American Bar Association, the University of Houston Law School, the National Juvenile Defender Center, Northwestern University Legal Clinic and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The report is based on on-site interviews, courtroom observations, review of relevant literature and data analysis of 23 Texas counties that account for 60 percent of those sent to Texas Youth Commission centers. Officials with the Texas Youth Commission, the Texas Association of Counties and the Texas District and County Attorneys Association withheld comment Monday. While some Texas counties do a good job, too many do not, the report said. This causes them to rush through cases.
Many judges feel pressured by the county to control their budgets and move cases quickly.
In addition, some judges base court appointments on campaign contributions, the report said. Juveniles often do not understand their legal rights. Children often meet their appointed counsel minutes before their first hearing, counsel recommends that the child plead guilty, the judge accepts the plea and the defendant is sentenced at his first court hearing, and it's on to the next case. Vincent Schiraldi, director of the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, said Texas is not the only state lacking in its approach to handling of poor juveniles. But the state is at the bottom in funding because there is no state funding.