[Material follows:] TESTIMONY OF CAROL S. VANCE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF HARRIS COUNTY I. INTRODUCTION Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Carol S. Vance. I am the District Attorney in Harris County, Texas. I appear on behalf of the National District Attorney's Association as Chairman of the Committee on the Administration of Law and Justice. I have prosecuted criminal cases for twenty (20) years, since 1958, and have been District Attorney of Harris County, for twelve (12) years. I appear before the Committee to comment on Senator Bentsen's bill, S. 3216, and Senator Mathias' bill S. 28. II. THE NEED FOR CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAMS It is not possible to predict the motives nor the pattern of operation of all felony offenders. They are as various as human nature itself. However, we are certain that there are a small number of felony offenders who have made crime a virtual career. These are not occasional or spur of the moment felons. They are the career criminals who make their living on a day to day basis by preying on an unsuspecting society. These felons are the robbers, the burglars, and auto thieves, the arsonists, the forgers, the dope dealers, the kidnappers, and the rapists. The purpose of the career criminal program is to concentrate prosecutorial resources on these types of felons who are multiple offenders. Appendix A cites two cases which are typical of the kind dealt with by the career criminal program. At the time that our career criminal program began, each of the twelve district courts in Harris County had to process some 1,500 felony cases per year. Each prosecutor in felony court had an average annual caseload of 500 felonies. Our resources did not permit an intensive and concentrated effort from the moment of arrest through disposition on each and every felony case. We needed a program aimed at those relatively small number of people who posed the greatest threat to our community. Three years later, there are now eighteen (18) district courts in Harris County. This is 50 percent more than when the program began. Even when this increased court capacity, each court must still process approximately 900 cases per year. Thus, each prosecutor still handles over 400 felony cases per year. Obviously, a prosecutor with such a massive caseload would be unable to expend the many days, and even weeks, required to investigate and prepare the typically difficult career criminal case. The overwhelming need now, as it was in 1975, is for a separate division within the district attorney's office, staffed by experienced prosecutors who can specialize in dealing with career criminals. My purpose for appearing before you today is to urge your continued support for this vital program. From my conversations with prosecutors around the nation, I know our problem of sheer numbers is shared by every metropolitan district attorney's office. III. HOW THE CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAM WORKS Cooperation among all law enforcement agencies in our jurisdiction is vital to the success of the career criminal program. While our prosecutors will work with any law enforcement agency that brings a case that qualifies for career criminal consideration, we are especially thankful to the Houston Police Department for the tremendous support which they have contributed to the career criminal program. The Houston Police Department has provided five (5) experienced detectives and a secretary to work in conjunction with our own staff. This invaluable addition to the program has been provided at no cost to the county, and is not funded under the LEAA grant which initiated and sustains our program. It is an expression of the tremendous concern in the City of Houston that the career criminal be removed from our streets. With the help of the Houston Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in Harris County, we have been able to achieve a 90 percent conviction rate of those felons processed by the career criminal program. In the ordinary felony case, the police detective files the charge after the case has been substantially put together. Then he goes on to the next case. What he does not have time to do is put the finishing touches on the investigation that can make he difference in trial. "Finishing touches" may be a poor choice of words, because the Houston Police Department career criminal detail routinely makes diagrams, photographs of the scene and locates witnesses, as well as carrying out the individualized requests of the prosecutor. IV. CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAM GUIDELINES In an effort to provide objective standards for selection of cases for the career criminal program, a set of guidelines has been established. Generally, the career criminal project concentrates on those who commit crimes of violence and on those whose past criminal histories indicate they pose a significant threat to our community. Although crimes of passion or violence between family members or close acquaintances are serious, the program concentrates on crimes where the victim and defendant are strangers to one another, where personal relationships play no part in the crime. This principle of case selection is designed to provide some measure of compensation to the victim and, hopefully, deterrence for the randomness of particular crimes: robbery, burglary, rape and muggings. The specific guidelines for case selection are as follows. Any defendant filed on for the felony of: rape (sexual abuse), attempted murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, violation of Controlled Substances Act, theft, or forgery, robbery, aggravated robbery, and who is : (1) An ex-convict, or (2) on bail for a pending felony (or a felony on appeal), or (3) on probation for a felony offense, or (4) a multiple felony offender (three or more completely separate transactions). will be processed by the career criminal program. It is essential that the criteria for career criminal designation be uncomplicated. V. GOALS OF THE CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAM (1) Speedy trials: The first goal of the program is to take the career criminal, as defined by our criteria, through the criminal justice system as quickly as possible. Prosecutors who screen the cases identify the career criminal and personally handle the case from shortly after filing. This procedure has been successful in drastically reducing the time from filing charges to the time of indictment, and from the time of indictment to arraignment. The average career criminal case requires 10.9 days for indictment, and a case rejected by the career criminal project requires 28.4 days. The average time from indictment to arraignment for a career criminal case is 15.3 days, for a case rejected by the project, 23.5 days. The average time from indictment to jury trial setting for a career criminal case is 139.7 days and 151.3 days for cases rejected by the project. (2) Bail: The second major goal of the career criminal project is to set a high bail for the career criminal and where appropriate, to hold the defendant without bail. The Texas Constitution was recently amended to allow State District Judges discretion to deny bail in the following cases: (a) when a person is accused of a non-capital felony and has two prior convictions. (b) when a person is accused of a non-capital felony, committed while on bail for a prior felony in which he has been indicted. (c) when a person with a prior felony conviction is accused of a non-capital felony involving the use of a deadly weapon. In bail hearings, the career criminal assistant assigned to the case will have full knowledge of the facts in the case and will work toward the denial of bail in all cases. The reason for this is that a good number of defendants being processed by the program were actually on bond in connection with other felonies allegedly committed prior to their being processed by the career criminal project for a subsequent offense. During the first two years of operation, 833 defendants were accepted into the program and only 141 made bond. (3) Sentencing: Another goal of the Harris County career criminal project is to gain better verdicts in sentencing as a result of the intensive investigation and follow-up work done on the designated career criminal project cases. Concentration in this area has resulted in an average jury trial sentence of 53.3 years and an average sentence (including jury trials and dispositions without trial) of 30.4 years during the first two years of operation. These appropriately severe penalties in jury trials are a result of the jury's harsh reaction to the incriminating evidence uncovered by intensive investigation. The state's position is also measurably strengthened in plea negotiations because a defendant does not want to risk the almost certain harsh consequences of a jury trial. VI. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAM As a measure of the career criminal program, I would like to point out some illustrative statistics. As of September 22, 1978: Total number of cases disposed- Total number of jury trials.... Total number of defendants dismissed.. Total number of defendants receiving probation. Number of defendants making bond__. 960 315 33 31 19 58.5 31.5 123 158 Since the program began in July, 1975, Harris County has experienced a remarkable decrease in the number of robberies. This trend is especially notable in that Houston is the nation's fastest growing city with approximately 60,000 new residents per year during the past few years. There have also been decreases in the rate of burglaries, assaults, and auto thefts. The following chart shows the crime rate in Harris County, reported as number of crimes per hundred thousand residents. CHANGES IN REPORTED INDEX CRIME RATES, HARRIS COUNTY, 1974-77 VII. PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS With all essential ingredients for successful investigation and prosecution of career criminal cases located in the prosecutor's office, I urge the committee, in any consideration of funding, to place the greatest amount of resources in the prosecutor's office and to require of him the greatest responsibility for success of the program. Only the prosecutor can screen all charges filed and establish criteria for acceptance of a case into the career criminal program. Only the prosecutor's office working in conjunction with local police departments can investigate and prepare these difficult cases for trial. Only the prosecutor's office has the experienced attorneys which is the crucial factor in a successful prosecution. Only the prosecutor, in conjunction with court management staff, can manage court availability so as to bring the career criminal case to trial as quickly as possible. Career criminal program needs will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The basic need is always with the prosecutor who must (1) identify the career criminal; (2) evaluate the case; (3) gather information past convictions and criminal history to justify denial of or sufficiently high bail and to be used for enhancement and sentencing; (4) to prepare the case for Grand Jury presentation, trial; and (5) to push for early disposition. It should be noted that whether the investigative resources are a part of the prosecutor's office or the local police agency, they should work under the trial prosecutor's direction. While overview from Washington and the State Criminal Justice planning agencies are a pre-requisite for any grant, it is clear that a successful career criminal program requires that the prosecutor's office have primary administrative responsibility. The career criminal program should continue to be an action program unfettered of unnecessary administrative requirement. The interest Congress has shown in the program is a reflection of our urban citizen's desire to be free of the threat of street crime, crimes of violence and crimes against property. To continue to provide swift justice and to rid the streets of the career criminal in a cost effective manner, we must refrain, in all due respect, from promulgation of unnecessary bureaucratic guidelines. VIII. LEGISLATIVE CONSIDERATIONS My primary concern is that any new legislation should vest responsibility in the local prosecutor for classification of cases in selection for career criminal prosecution, and that the local prosecutor maintain control of manpower in the program. In general, the guidelines for the program should be simple and unsophisticated and should be drawn with the purpose of making the program action oriented and not an administrative appendage of Washington or the state. I would now like to turn to a consideration of specific points within the bills. S. 3216 (Senator Bentsen) As I understand this bill, the general local government applicant will apply directly to the "administrator" for the grant. I assume the administrator will be within the LEAA when the status of that agency is resolved. It would be helpful if the bill were more specific regarding the funding for any one grant request. As written, the bill provides for grants during the fiscal years 1979 through 1983. Will the local government applicant be required to re-apply each year? (Sec. 310(6)). The bill is also silent on the question of whether a grant rejection by the federal administrator would disallow a local government applicant from seeking a block grant from their State Criminal Justice Planning Agency. Section 310(b)(3) requiring criteria to be established for the selection of repeat offenders is a good requirement. This testimony contains a statement of the criteria used by the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Section 310(b)(4) which requires collection of information necessary to identify repeat offenders and to follow the cases through the criminal justice system is also a good requirement. Our office has a statistician employed in our career criminal program to keep track of the voluminous statistical tasks. All cases, regardless of their status, are also recorded by computer. We are in the process of implementing a sophisticated program which will increase our ability to manipulate statistical data regarding career criminals. Regarding the ramifications of the program on detention facilities, sec. 310 (b) (5), we strive to process career criminals as quickly as possible from filing to disposition of the case. While most career criminals do not make bond, and thus are detained in the country jail, they are incarcerated for a minimum time because of the emphasis on speedy indictment and disposition. As a footnote, I should note that Harris County is in the process of building a new jail. Section 310(b)(9) providing for reasonable reports to the administrator is, of course, a necessary requirement. However, I have heard complaints from several prosecutor's offices around the country that report making can become burdensome and unnecessary, with too many forms and procedures. Again, I emphasize that the career criminal program should be an action program. S. 28 (Senator Mathias) Section 101 (b) provides for making technical assistance available as well as grants, and is, I think, a very worthwhile point. Our office, as well as other offices with established programs, would be glad to assist the administrator in this regard by making experienced career criminal prosecutors available to jurisdictions who wanted to start their own project or who needed some management assessment. Section 112(a)(6) regarding the collection and submission of information to the director as he may "reasonably require” is a vital requirement so long as it does not overburden the prosecutor with preparation of meaningless statistics and paperwork. Section 114(b) providing that no grant to a local government in a single state shall exceed 12% of the aggregate payments to all eligible units of local government in that year, is not clear. If for instance only two states apply for a grant, each of them would have 50% of the aggregate payment to eligible local governments during that year, a violation of this subsection. The subsection presumes that there will be at least eight applicants from each state. This is not likely in some of the smaller states and not helpful to those states with large cities such as Texas where Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio could justifiably use more than 12% of the aggregate payment within the state. The Houston and Dallas jurisdictions have approximately 40% of the population, and equal amount of the crime, and at least that many of the career criminals by anybody's standards. Ex-convicts tend to return or move to metropolitan areas. The career criminal is basicaly a phenomenon of our complex metropolitan living. In fact, rural prosecutors report that career criminals are an insignificant problem unless they live close to a big city. Section 115 (c) providing for financial assistance for the continued funding of programs of demonstrated effectiveness is an excellent point which will help preserve the ongoing career criminal programs. With regards to the office of repeat offenders, Sec. 123 (a) (3 & 4) provides for the establishment of one or more advisory committees and for the Director to promulgate rules, regulations and procedures as may be necessary to carry out his functions. This is a potentially burdensome and unnecessary authority. Section 123 (a) (9) is a very obscure delegation of authority and should be clarified or deleted. Title II referring to the Federal Regional Prison System is unrelated to the rest of the bill. I would recommend that Title II be deleted from the bill so that the career criminal program can stand on its own merits. IX. COST EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CAREER CRIMINAL PROGRAM The following is a comparison which illustrates the value of the career criminal program. For the twelve month period from September '78 to September '79, we have budgeted approximately $400,000 for the operation of our career criminal project, not including the equipment and personnel which were part of the District Attorney's budget prior to the inception of the program. Each year the career criminal program has disposed of approximately 320 cases. Dividing that into the $400,000 budget, it is possible to estimate the cost of disposing each case: $1,250. This seems to be a minimal cost for a case involving a multiple offender who poses a great threat to society. The cost is indeed minimal when it is remembered that the conviction rate is approximately 98%. Thus, almost every expenditure of $1,250 results in the conviction of a career criminal. On the average, that criminal will serve 31.5 years in the state penitentiary. The cost of maintaining a police patrol car on the streets of Houston for one year is approximately $100,000. To staff the patrol car requires 4.5 patrolmen with an aggregate salary of approximately 79,000. Vehicle cost is $8,500, maintenance for an entire year amounts to approximately $13,000. It is an interesting comparison and one which I think shows the relative value and cost effectiveness of the career criminal program. This is especially true when one considers the potential gain for society is the removal of a criminal who is responsible for a disproportionately large part of crime in our communities. X. SUMMARY Ultimately, the career criminal program is designed to reduce urban crime and make the streets safer for our citizens. In summary, the goals of any career criminal program are to: (1) build a solid case for presentation in court; (2) deny bail, or request an appropriately high bail in accordance with the facts; (3) present the matter to the grand jury rapidly and seek an early trial; (4) request a sentence appropriate to the crime and the defendant's past conduct. The National District Attorney's Association is in full support of the career criminal program concept. I have attached a resolution passed by the NDAA which expresses that support (see Appendix B). On behalf of the National District Attorney's Association, I pledge our full support and cooperation to assist this sub-committee and the Congress in developing an effective, minimal cost career criminal program. I am delighted that the Sub-Committee has seen fit to give this vital matter its serious consideration. In closing, I would like to express my deepest personal appreciation to my good friend, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, for his tireless efforts in the fight against crime and his interest in the career criminal concept. Also, on behalf of the National District Attorney's Association I wish to commend and thank both Sentaor Bentsen and Senator Mathias for an excellent contribution by way of needed legislation. Gentlemen, I hope that one of these bills will become law. In my opinion the most effective expenditure that LEAA has made, that causes the most direct reduction of crime, is that money spent on the nation's career criminal programs. Senator Bentsen's and Senator Mathias' efforts to instigate this successful experience on a nationwide basis have had enormous impact on the career criminal problem. Thank you. |