Study: County court system must change
Expert says judges in smaller areas are forced to rule on cases where they may not be competent
Texas needs to dramatically revamp its county court system, according to one criminal justice expert.
County judges in remote or smaller counties across the state serve as county administrator and preside over misdemeanor courts, Lawrence Karson, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Houston-Downtown.
Under state law, the county judge does not need to have a law degree or practically any legal training.
In an essay in the August issue of the Journal of Criminal Justice and Law, Karson argues that the current system leaves defendants exposed and nurtures conflicts of interest, particularly since county judges who handle a large chunk of judicial matters get a $25,000 bonus from the state.
“Texas requires more training for a deputy serving as a jailer than it does for the judge who sentences an individual to that jail,” Karson wrote, calling for counties across the state to create more “courts at law,” where attorneys oversee judicial matters.
In large counties like Harris County, Bexar County and others, the state split apart the responsibilities and created courts at law and probate courts to handle the judicial responsibilities of the county.
In 210 other counties, however, county judges may preside over misdemeanor courts, capable of imposing penalties of up
to a year in jail, or adjudicating juvenile matters, mental health cases, and other judicial issues.
Those judges handle a significant caseload, as well, he writes.
Some judges end up essentially self-teaching themselves.
“You’re having to count on the initiative of the judge,” he said. “We don’t do that with attorneys coming out of law school. We require them to take a bar exam.”
The current system also creates the appearance of possible conflict of interest, Karson wrote, because county judges — who also oversee commissioners courts — would have no incentive to create the separate courts at law.
A 2014 report to the Texas Legislature on the issue found that 87 percent of respondents said they spend 40 percent or more of their time on judicial functions.
An Austin AmericanStatesman investigation in 2016 found that the system received little oversight and was being exploited, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.
Bulking up education for incoming county judges or creating more courts-at-law would require more resources from the state.
That’s a change that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, Karson said.
“Justice has a price,” he said. “The current legislature seems more focused on social issues than financing the state’s judicial needs, and that’s a problem.”