Travis County District Attorney José Garza’s 2022 Year-In-Review Letter

To Residents of Travis County,

I am writing to update you on the work we did in 2022 to prioritize community safety and create a criminal justice system that works for everyone – two goals that can and must coexist. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished together, and I know there remains more to do.

In 2022, our office focused on advancing a comprehensive strategy to address gun violence in Travis County and strengthening our support for victims of crime. We also continued to make significant progress towards reshaping our local criminal justice system so that it works for everyone. I am enormously proud of the work our office has done and am also excited about the work ahead. Together, we have an opportunity to keep pushing towards the criminal justice system that Travis County deserves.

Getting Back into Court

During the worst of the pandemic, criminal courts were largely closed. Between March of 2020 and March of 2021, it was difficult to have criminal jury trials. Jury trials allow members of the community to set standards in criminal cases and are key to an efficient criminal justice system.

Since trials restarted in earnest in March of 2022, our office has used the time available to prioritize trials in cases of violence. In that time, we have tried 27 cases involving crimes of violence, including murder, sexual assault, and crimes of violence against children. Our prosecutors won convictions in 21 of those cases.

Building a Gun Violence Prevention Ecosystem

In Travis County, gun violence is the number one cause of non-accidental death.  Instability caused by the pandemic and easy access to firearms led to increases in gun violence all across the country, in both rural and urban communities, starting in 2020. We saw too many instances of everyday gun violence and mass shootings in this country and witnessed the ways that interpersonal violence poses a threat to our public safety.

Since the start of 2021, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office has focused its efforts on holding people accountable who commit acts of gun violence. We launched a four-point plan to reduce gun violence that included using both traditional and innovative prosecution strategies, the creation of prevention programs, taking guns out of the hands of those at high risk, and supporting victims of gun violence.

Over the last two years, the DA’s office has secured over 5,000 indictments and over 2,500 convictions for acts of violence. In 2022, the DA’s office secured over 5,700 indictments and over 4,300 convictions for all criminal offenses. The DA’s office has over a ninety percent prosecution rate for all gun crimes brought to the office.

But the truth is, we are never going to arrest and prosecute our way out of this crisis. If we are serious about our public safety, we must do more to prevent gun violence before it happens.

That is why we worked with the Travis County Commissioner’s court last year to pass the Safer Travis County Resolution that will build a gun violence prevention ecosystem that includes law enforcement, our healthcare system, and the communities most impacted by gun violence.

Those policies will strengthen the ability of law enforcement to solve gun crimes, provide resources to victims of gun violence, and employ community-based strategies to prevent gun violence.

At the end of 2022, homicides in our community were down 20 percent from 2021. We have much work ahead of us, but I am confident that because of the work we have done together since the start of 2021, we are on a path to building a community free of gun violence.

Meeting the Needs of Victims of Crime

For too long, the Travis County criminal justice system ignored most victims and the serious harm they have experienced. The reality is that victims of crime need access to mental health support, trauma care, and often, financial assistance.

Our office has worked to meet these needs. In 2021, we created a stand-alone Victim Services Division that created guidelines for working with victims that center their needs in criminal prosecution. As part of this change, the Director of the division now serves as part of our leadership team. In her role, she advises our office on how the implementation of any new policy or law could affect victims and works with other division directors to ensure that the needs of victims are met. Additionally, we have worked to win resources to grow the Victim Services Division so that we can continue to center the voices of victims in our work. Last year, our office won over 1 million dollars in grant funding to add Victim Witness Counselors to that division.

In 2022, our office also secured a grant that will allow us to embed a prosecutor from our Special Victims Unit within the Austin Police Department. This collaboration will ensure early communication that improves our ability to prosecute sexual assault and family violence cases and improves outcomes for survivors.

Finally, the District Attorney’s Office continues to honor the courage and resiliency of survivors who have fought to improve our system. As part of our settlement with sexual assault survivors who filed a lawsuit against the County and City, the Office is commissioning an artist to create a remembrance space that will memorialize their struggle for justice.

A Criminal Justice System that Works for Everyone

If we are serious about our public safety, we must do more than hold people accountable who commit harm in our community. We have an obligation to pursue evidence-based strategies that increase stability in our communities. That’s why our office expanded our pre-trial diversion program for non-violent offenses to increase opportunities for job training and services for substance use and mental health disorders. We stood up for women who seek abortions and for transgendered children and their families because diverting resources from prosecuting acts of violence would increase instability in our community and make us less safe.

By reforming our criminal justice system so that it meets the aspirations of our community, by meeting the needs of victims of crime, and by holding people accountable who commit acts of violence and working to prevent them, we make our community more safe.

We know that we have more work to do. Our criminal justice system has been broken for some time, and it will not get fixed overnight. But I believe that we can and that together we are. In 2023, our office will continue to hold people accountable who commit acts of violence, partner with community and law enforcement stakeholders to pursue community-based solutions that address the root causes of crime, and meet the needs of victims.

In 2023, I look forward to continuing to work with you to improve the safety of our community.

Sincerely,