Publications

Informing the public about our data, our findings and what the data means is of the utmost importance to the Texas Justice Initiative. More information about our data sets can be found here, and all of our data is available through data.world (free account required) here. Below, you’ll find the Texas Justice Initiative’s latest press releases and reports.

Infected With Fear: The Coronavirus in Central Texas Jails (2021)

By Dr. Jiletta Kubena, Eva Ruth Moravec, Dr. Jennifer Carreon and Dr. Ellen Stone

This research, funded by a grant from Good Measure, evaluates how five Central Texas jails responded to the coronavirus pandemic. In this report, we reveal a messy patchwork of inconsistent policies, ambiguity and confusion as jails attempted to maintain operations amid a new and unfamiliar pandemic. The report provides a snapshot of the impact COVID-19 has had on a population that already experiences higher rates of chronic disease amplified by overcrowded environments and exposure to daily changes in staff entering and exiting the facilities.

REPORT: Infected with Fear: The Coronavirus in Central Texas Jails

Texas Police Transparency Panel (2021)

Panelists: Eva Ruth Moravec, Rep. Joe Moody and Kathy Mitchell

In an event sponsored by the ACLU of Texas and Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, KXAN's Josh Hinkle moderated a panel of experts including TJI's executive director in a conversation about law enforcement transparency in Texas and how it is being addressed in the 87th session of the Texas legislature.

VIDEO: Texas Police Transparency Panel

COVID and Corrections: A Profile of COVID Deaths in Custody in Texas (2020)

By Michele Deitch, Alycia Welch, William Bucknall and Destiny Moreno; using TJI as a resource

Texas has had more COVID-19 infections and deaths among incarcerated people and staff than any other state in the country, according to a new report from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. This report relies heavily on TJI data, and volunteer Margarita Bronshteyn mentored the student researchers.

REPORT: COVID and Corrections: A Profile of COVID Deaths in Custody in Texas

COVID-19 deaths in Texas law enforcement (2020)

By Kenny Gildersleeve

The Texas Justice Initiative is tracking line of duty deaths of Texas law enforcement officers (LEOs) related to the novel coronavirus, displayed on the map below. Our sources for these data are the Officer Down Memorial Page, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and individual law enforcement agencies.

MAP: COVID-19 deaths in Texas law enforcement

DATA: COVID-19 deaths in Texas law enforcement

Officer-Involved Shootings in Texas: 2016-2019 (2020)

By Hongsup Shin, Eva Ruth Moravec

This report examines four years of data from TJI’s collection of data on officer-involved shootings in Texas. TJI’s report offers findings and high-level, intersectional analyses that build on annual reports published by the Texas Office of the Attorney General, as required by law, each year.

REPORT: Officer-Involved Shootings in Texas

VIDEO: Virtual Presentation 8/26/2020

COVID-19 deaths in Texas prisons and jails (2020)

By Kenny Gildersleeve

The Texas Justice Initiative is tracking deaths of individuals related to the novel coronavirus in local, state and federal jails in prisons. Our sources: custodial death reports filed with the Texas Office of the Attorney General, the Bureau of Prisons news releases and data dashboard, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice news releases and data dashboard and daily tallies from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

MAP: COVID-19 deaths in Texas prisons and jails

DATA: COVID-19 deaths in Texas prisons and jails

COVID-19 deaths in an East Texas prison (2020)

By Margarita Bronshteyn, Eva Ruth Moravec

The Rufus H. Duncan Unit is a geriatric prison in East Texas where two-thirds of the incarcerated men tested positive for COVID-19 in the spring. As the novel coronavirus continues to disproportionately affect incarcerated individuals, the Texas Justice Initiative has maintained a focus on the outbreak at the Duncan Unit and the men there who have died of the virus.

BLOG POST: COVID-19 strikes a Texas nursing home for prisoners

Pre-booking homicides by Texas law enforcement (2020)

By Eva Ruth Moravec

In this Medium post, TJI's executive director examines TJI's data to analyze the deaths of black individuals killed by Texas law enforcement before they are booked in jail.

BLOG POST: One in four killed in Texas law enforcement homicides are Black

Pre-trial deaths in Texas jails

By James Babyak

An interactive dashboard updated monthly with data on individuals who die in Texas county jails before going to trial.

TABLEAU DASHBOARD: Pre-trial deaths in Texas jails since 2005

Life and Death in a Carceral State (2018)

By TJI, Texas After Violence Project

TJI partnered with the Texas After Violence Project to document the experiences people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system in Texas.

REPORT: Life and Death in a Carceral State

DATA: Data Report for Life and Death in a Carceral State

Officer-Involved Shootings and Custodial Deaths in Texas (2018)

By Everett Wetchler

From 2005 to 20018, there were 8,730 deaths of civilians in the custody of Texas law enforcement. In the past decade, officer-involved shootings in Texas have been on the rise. Data obtained from the Texas Office of the Attorney General shows that since Sept. 1, 2015, there have been 466 civilians shot by Texas law enforcement, and 78 officers have been shot.

Officers involved in shootings skew younger and male than the general population of Texas law enforcement officers. Overall, most deaths that occur in Texas law enforcement custody are due to natural causes, but that nearly half of all deaths of inmates housed alone in a jail cell are suicides.

REPORT: TJI Fact Sheet on Shootings of and by Texas Officers; and Custodial Deaths

Texas Custodial Death Report (2016)

By Amanda Woog

From 2005 to 2015, a reported 6,913 people died in the custody of law enforcement and other state officials in Texas. More than 1,900 of the people who died (28%) had not been convicted of, or in many cases, even charged with a crime. Despite recent growing interest in counting and reporting on custodial and police-involved deaths, most of the nearly 7,000 people who died have never had their stories told, and aggregate data regarding the manner and locations of their deaths have not been widely available.

REPORT: Texas Custodial Death Report