Home > Austin Legal > Archives > probation category
probation
January 26, 2009
Judge, defense lawyers team up on parenting classes
State District Charlie Baird, a fervent believer in doling out probation over prison for many felony offenders, has begun a new program aimed at making some of those probationers better fathers.
Under the program, funded by the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and Baird’s political accounts, some men Baird has has recently put on probation are required to come to his court on Sunday afternoons for parenting classes. Some defense lawyers, including accomplished local attorney Kristin Etter, volunteered to watch the children of the men during the class.
Check out Bob Banta’s story from today’s Statesman here and a video on the program here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: probation
August 13, 2008
Learn more about judge's efforts to help probationers, scope of problem
Following up today’s Statesman story about state District Judge Charlie Baird’s effort to help probationers in his court find jobs, here is some of the information compiled during reporting that did not make the paper.
First, here is a link to an accounting of the cases pending as of Aug. 1 in Travis County’s seven felony district courts, obtained under the Texas open records law from Debra Hale, court administrator in Travis County. As stated in the story, Baird has the second most cases pending in his court — 976. The 427th District Court, led by Judge Melissa Goodwin, has the most with 1,128. That court was created last year. There are 6,481 felony cases active in Travis County.
The story referenced a 2006 Washington State Institute for Public Policy report that Geraldine Nagy, the director of the Travis County adult probation department, said she references often. That report can be found here.
Mary Moran, Travis County offender workforce development administrator, said job services for ex-offenders — helping them prepare for and find employment — are in high demand in the area. She said that an estimated 1,500 people looking for jobs attended a job fair organized by the federal probation department and held Aug. 6 at a South Austin hotel. The crowd was so large that several prospective employers did not show up because they could not find parking, Moran said.
Finally, anyone looking for a job who wants to participate in the City of Austin program that provides employment and social service help should call Mark Diaz at 972-6742 or Gail Dixon at 972-6749. Prospective employers should call program director Martin Harris at 972-5655.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: probation
