TexasCHLforum.com

seamusTX wrote:

talltex wrote:My point was that there ARE circumstances that may arise, where a judge or prosecutor knows that it would be a miscarriage of justice to convict someone of an offense with such drastic repercussions, but they ARE guilty of the offense legally...

I'm inclined to agree.

With felonies, and especially sexual offenses, we are talking about making the offender a second-class citizen for life. Their prospects are very limited, which leads offenders to drift into further criminality such as drug-dealing or theft because they have nothing to lose.

Deferred adjudication allows a person who has made one bad decision and then cleans up his act to go on with a normal life.

- Jim

Jim, I agree with you in part and your point is well taken, however, in Texas that will never happen and deferred adjudication doesn't really allow a person to go on with their normal life.
Sex offenders and bank robbers will never be forgiven by the system. You can murder here with relatively a light sentence, but don't mess with the money or commit any kind of sexually related crime. The restrictions on felons in Texas is so restrictive that employment is nearly impossible but for dead end minimum wage jobs and a lot of roofers! I never knew about the restrictions until someone pointed out that since Walmart sells alarms the law can be interpreted to exclude a felon from working there and the list goes on. Of course every one is responsible for their actions and should be cognizant of the consequesnces, but lawyers and the legal system mislead defendants into believing they'll have a clear record with deferred adjudication when in reality they'll basically be ineligible for any meaningful job afterward. That's why there are 750,000 people in Texas under lock and key and/or supervision of the TDCJD and BOPAP. In Texas if you are on parole for 5 years after serving say 10 years of a 20 year sentence and you violate parole, even a technical violation, you are required to go back for the full ten years remaining to finish out the original sentence. You get no credit while out on parole.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:I'm very much in favor of the concept, but in the end I believe few people will benefit. There are tens of thousands of deferred adjudications each year throughout the State and the Board will not have time to consider them and make a recommendation to the Governor. I think the law should be changed such that all successfully completed deferred adjudications result in the defendant's record being expunged.

Chas.

Charles has it right. This is meaningless legislation as the 17 members of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles can't even review the TDCJ parole applicants effectively.