CrimJust Agency Boards meet this week; Learn the nuts and bolts of juvenile law

by Scott Henson of Grits For Breakfast

Three key state criminal justice agencies' boards - the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ), the Public Safety Commission (DPS) and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission - will all meet in Austin later this week.

Three key state criminal justice agencies' boards - the Texas Board of Criminal Justice (TBCJ), the Public Safety Commission (DPS) and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission - will all meet in Austin later this week. Here's the agendafor TBCJ's 2-day meeting (July 12-13). The Public Safety Commission will also meet Thursday and Friday, with the heavier lifting coming on day two. And here's the agenda for the Juvenile Probation Commission meeting on Friday (July 13).

TBCJ's meeting on Thursday will be dominated by committee meetings, while much of their Friday session will be taken up with presentations from division heads like Rissie Owens from the Board of Pardons and Parole and Brad Livingston from TDCJ.

The Juvenile Probation Commission will discuss a number of topics that were left unresolved by the 80th Texas Legislature, in particular whether enough money was allocated to counties for community corrections to make up for kids the Legislature diverted from TYC. An early agena item says the Commission will have:

Discussion and Possible Action on Funding Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009 Community Corrections Allocation and Related Funding

- Community Corrections Services Funding Formula

- Intensive Community Based Programs and Pilot

- Misdemeanor Diversionary Placement Fund

Those are exactly the topics left as big question marks when the Legislature mercifully left town in May - I know a lot of county juvenile probation directors will be watching closely what comes out of this process.

Speaking of the Juvenile Probation Commission, later this month on July 30 and 31 the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and the Texas State Bar Juvenile Law Section will hold a 1.5 day training in Austin titled "Nuts and Bolts of Juvenile Law." Looks like they're going to cover a lot of ground and it might be a really informative gathering. Registration information is here ($150) and there's also a brochure for the event.