Inadmissible: No Rewrite of Criminal Code

Don’t hold your breath for a full rewrite of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. As the Texas House Select Committee on Criminal Procedure Reform explained, “Not since L.B.J. was president, John Connally was governor, M.L.K. marched to Montgomery, the Astrodome opened, the Beatles played Shea Stadium, and ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ debuted on CBS, has the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure … been revised in its entirety. The year was 1965.” In a December 2014 interim report, released on Jan. 9, the committee explained it tackled an assignment of studying the code to recommend revisions. “The most practical and helpful recommendation may simply be that more focused efforts are needed in the future,” said the report. For now, the committee settled on “a more piecemeal approach,” while recommending a “systematic approach” for ongoing updates, the report said. Lawmakers should require the Texas Legislative Council to work on nonsubstantive revisions during interim sessions. The inaugural project would be revising the code’s provision about community supervision. The committee also recommended the creation of a select committee to develop a plan “for the eventual implementation of a paperless system to handle criminal matters in Texas.” Among other immediate recommendations were amendments to:

• simplify criteria to determine venue in some misdemeanor cases;