A new report found that some district attorneys in Texas are refusing to enforce certain laws, violating their oath of office and eroding public trust in the justice system.
These rogue prosecutors “abuse their discretion by refusing to enforce laws they disagree with and instead pursue lenient charges against violent criminals,” Ross Jackson of the Texas Public Policy Foundation wrote.
According to his report, major cities with rogue prosecutors include Minneapolis, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tampa, and Manhattan. In Texas, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas each have district attorneys refusing to prosecute certain crimes.
Lenient policies from the DAs could be amplifying localized crime spikes.
“Going against the national trend, many cities with rogue prosecutors have experienced rising crime rates in certain categories of offenses,” Jackson wrote.
To address the issue of rogue prosecutors, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 17 in 2023, allowing citizens to petition for a district attorney’s removal and expanding the definition of misconduct. The TPPF report argues the law is not enough, however, and multiple rogue prosecutors still remain in office.
District Attorney Jose Garza from Travis County, which includes Austin, is one example cited.
During his campaign, Garza vocalized his intent to not prosecute certain crimes. Since then, he has let abortion and drug possession cases go unprosecuted and has aggressively charged police officers.
Per Jackson’s citing of FBI data, Austin’s homicide and aggravated assault rates have risen since Garza took office in 2020, despite national decreases.
Citizens have reported Garza and tried to have him removed, but all attempts so far have been unsuccessful. The report attributes this to Garza’s use of informal internal guidance rather than an official written policy, as HB 17 only targets written non-prosecution policies.
Garza won re-election for another 4 years in 2024.
Other examples include Joe Gonzales of San Antonio, who was accused of being soft on crime for letting officers use tickets instead of jail time for drug and theft misdemeanors, and John Creuzot from Dallas, who announced he would not prosecute low-level, first-time drug offenders.
“All public servants must follow the law and not implement contradictory blanket policies,” wrote Jackson.
Jackson also said that all three of these district attorneys have received funding from radical left-wing billionaires through the Texas Justice and Public Safety PAC.
The report suggested multiple solutions that Texas legislators can implement to address these issues.
One option would be to create a Chief State Prosecutor who can prosecute cases neglected by local districts. This solution has been championed by Gov. Greg Abbott and is expected to come before legislators next year.
Increasing the authority of the attorney general to prosecute offenders is also an option. Additionally, Texas could create an oversight commission to regulate district attorneys or implement regional judicial districts with their own elected prosecutors.
“There must be a mechanism by which those in power who choose not to enforce the law can be held accountable,” Jackson concluded.
