What We're Reading

News that caught our attention or cited the Texas Justice Initiative from across the Lone Star State and beyond.
  • Officer-Involved Shootings Climb in Texas; Blacks, Latinos Disproportionate Victims

    Officer-Involved Shootings Climb in Texas; Blacks, Latinos Disproportionate Victims

    Published on August 27, 2020

    The Center on Media Crime and Justice at John Jay College featured TJI's officer-involved shootings report in their publication, The Crime Report. Reporter Laura Bowen focused on the increasing number of shootings by officers in Texas over the past four years and decreasing survival rates of victims.

  • Save Black Lives

    Save Black Lives

    Published on August 5, 2020

    A new report from the Center for Justice Research and the Black Public Defender Association explores racial injustices and the impact of COVID-19 and incarceration in Black communities. Howard Henderson, the founding director of the center, said: "Black people are being infected and dying from COVID-19 at alarming rates. They are also overrepresented in carceral systems that increase their risk of exposure to this deadly virus.

  • Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons

    Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons

    Published on July 27, 2020

    Kelly Davis reports on conditions at federal facilities including FMC Carswell, in Fort Worth, where three women have died of COVID-19: "Three women sleep four to a room and the rooms have no doors. As COVID-19 tore through the Texas prison—cases grew from 50 on July 7 to 571 by July 23—staff shut off the air conditioning and hung plastic curtains in the doorways to stop the virus’ spread."

  • Nearly 1,500 people have died in police custody in Texas since 2010, data shows

    Nearly 1,500 people have died in police custody in Texas since 2010, data shows

    Published on July 15, 2020

    The KVUE Defenders examine Texas' custodial death reporting process and interview Executive Director Eva Ruth Moravec on how TJI fills a need that is otherwise unmet.

  • COVID-19 strikes a Texas nursing home for prisoners

    COVID-19 strikes a Texas nursing home for prisoners

    Published on July 9, 2020

    Executive Director Eva Ruth Moravec and TJI Data Analyst Margarita Bronshteyn analyze the novel coronavirus' impact on a geriatric prison in Texas where 70% of the men who are incarcerated have tested positive for COVID-19, and 11 have died.