Thursday, August 5, 7:00 PM, UT campus, Parlin Hall room 206

Texas may have some of the worst health, education, and poverty rates in the US, but there are a few categories in which it exceeds every other state, and even foreign nations: incarceration and execution. Since 1980, Texas has built 94 new state prisons, which now house over 171,000 inmates. In the same time period, Texas has executed 462 people. Recently, numerous scandals have begun to shine a national and international spotlight on the failures of our justice system. From the execution of innocent men, such as Cameron Todd Willingham, to the absolute failure of the integrity of the Houston Crime Lab, the problems are beginning to reach a breaking point. Come out for a public meeting to discuss the systemic failures of Texas criminal injustice and strategies to confront and change it.