Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 17.021 – Public Safety Report System
(a) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System shall develop and maintain a public safety report system that is available for use for purposes of Article 17.15.
(b) The public safety report system must:
(1) state the requirements for setting bail under Article 17.15 and list each factor provided by Article 17.15(a);
(2) provide the defendant‘s name and date of birth or, if impracticable, other identifying information, the cause number of the case, if available, and the offense for which the defendant was arrested;
(3) provide information on the eligibility of the defendant for a personal bond;
(4) provide information regarding the applicability of any required or discretionary bond conditions;
(5) provide, in summary form, the criminal history of the defendant, including information regarding any:
(A) previous misdemeanor or felony convictions;
(B) pending charges;
(C) previous sentences imposing a term of confinement;
(D) previous convictions or pending charges for:
(i) offenses that are offenses involving violence as defined by Article 17.03; or
(ii) offenses involving violence directed against a peace officer; and
(E) previous failures of the defendant to appear in court following release on bail; and
(6) be designed to collect and maintain the information provided on a bail form submitted under § 72.038, Government Code.
Terms Used In Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 17.021
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) The office shall provide access to the public safety report system to the appropriate officials in each county and each municipality at no cost. This subsection may not be construed to require the office to provide an official or magistrate with any equipment or support related to accessing or using the public safety report system.
(d) The public safety report system may not:
(1) be the only item relied on by a judge or magistrate in making a bail decision;
(2) include a score, rating, or assessment of a defendant’s risk or make any recommendation regarding the appropriate bail for the defendant; or
(3) include any information other than the information listed in Subsection (b).
(e) The office shall use the information maintained under Subsection (b)(6) to collect data from the preceding state fiscal year regarding the number of defendants for whom bail was set after arrest, including:
(1) the number for each category of offense;
(2) the number of personal bonds; and
(3) the number of monetary bonds.
(f) Not later than December 1 of each year, the office shall submit a report containing the data described by Subsection (e) to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives, and presiding officers of the standing committees of each house of the legislature with primary jurisdiction over the judiciary.
(g) The Department of Public Safety shall assist the office in implementing the public safety report system established under this article and shall provide criminal history record information to the office in the electronic form necessary for the office to implement this article.