I will work to move our courtrooms toward a more fair and effective justice
system that saves taxpayer dollars through efficient crime reduction
practices. Responsible public safety requires more than just the appearance
of being tough on crime - the people of Harris County deserve Smart on
Crime strategies to improve the effectiveness and reliability of our
justice system. Unfortunately, under our current system, our court dockets
and jail are overcrowded with low-level substance possession arrestees and
the mentally ill, when we should concentrate on using our resources to
protect us from serious criminals who threaten our neighborhoods. We're
plagued by a crime lab that encumbers us with unreliable evidence and
backlogs that leave victims unprotected and criminals emboldened. In
addition, we have a system that places genuinely innocent people at risk by
failing to adequately protect their legal rights. Each of these examples is
inexcusable. Together, they are clear and convincing evidence that our
criminal justice system is broken.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, "The arc of the moral universe is
long but it bends toward justice." However, that arc does not bend on its
own. We must do the work together to bend that arc towards a more fair and
just legal system. In that spirit, I hope you will join me in the effort to
create a criminal justice system that protects the innocent, brings the
guilty to justice, and is firmly rooted in fairness and integrity.