Texas Government Code 71.0351 – Bail and Pretrial Release Information
(a) As a component of the official monthly report submitted to the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System under § 71.035, the clerk of each court setting bail in criminal cases shall report:
(1) the number of defendants for whom bail was set after arrest, including:
(A) the number for each category of offense;
(B) the number of personal bonds; and
(C) the number of surety or cash bonds;
(2) the number of defendants released on bail who subsequently failed to appear;
(3) the number of defendants released on bail who subsequently violated a condition of release; and
(4) the number of defendants who committed an offense while released on bail or community supervision.
(b) The office shall post the information in a publicly accessible place on the agency’s Internet website without disclosing any personal information of any defendant, judge, or magistrate.
Terms Used In Texas Government Code 71.0351
- 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) Not later than December 1 of each year, the office shall submit a report containing the data collected under this section during the preceding state fiscal year 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.