Statewide Policy
Second Look
Opportunity Youth
Mercy For Survivors
Reimagining Reform
Hear Their Stories
Learn about the policy changes that will impact systemic change
To Enhance Youth Safety, Invest in Young People
Texas can have a justice system that is cheaper, fairer, and better at producing public safety — but only if the laws allow it. LSJA’s legislative priorities come straight from the young people we represent and the judges, prosecutors, defenders, and community providers we work alongside every day. We advance policy that increases public safety, reduces cost, and improves outcomes for youth and emerging adults across the state.
The policy changes Texas needs
Keep young people out of the deep end. We advance legislation that expands diversion at every decision point, giving judges and prosecutors graduated, individualized options that match a young person’s actual needs — instead of a one-size-fits-all path toward commitment.
Make diversion the default, not the exception. We push for statutory requirements that counties build real diversion plans — backed by community-based services and the procedural authority to use them — so fewer youth end up in secure facilities when something closer to home would work better.
Fund the front end. Texas is in the middle of a children’s mental health crisis, and the justice system is absorbing the cost. We advocate for investment in prevention, treatment, and community-based resources that stop problems before they become criminal cases — the single highest-leverage public safety expenditure the state can make.
Give youth cases the review they deserve. Young people are not small adults, and their cases shouldn’t be treated as such. We advance policies that ensure meaningful procedural review — review that accounts for adolescent development, the circumstances that brought a young person into the system, and what actually produces safety on the other side.
89th Texas Legislative Session · 2025 Impact
What We Won. What We Fought. What Comes Next.
The 89th Legislative Session revealed a state at a crossroads — one vision pushing toward harsher punishment, another rooted in rehabilitation and developmental science. LSJA showed up for the second vision. Here's what that looked like.
The juvenile justice system is built on the firm foundation that kids are not mini adults.
Judge Cynthia Wheless, Collin County
Juvenile Justice Subcommittee · April 7, 2025 (89th R.S.)
A legislative win for survivors
Mercy for Survivors (SB 1278) — an affirmative defense for trafficking and prostitution survivors facing prosecution for acts tied to their exploitation — was signed into law on September 17, 2025, and took effect December 4. LSJA successfully advocated for the bill through the regular session, a veto, and two special sessions. It passed unanimously in both chambers.
Mercy for Survivors is the first statewide recognition in Texas law that coercion and fear of harm belong in the courtroom when the state prosecutes a victim of trafficking.
Holding the line against a punitive shift
LSJA and a statewide coalition stopped SB 1727 (Perry) — a bill that would have allowed Texas Juvenile Justice Department youth to be transferred to the adult prison system after a second offense, expanded determinate sentencing, and made administrative transfers to TDCJ easier.
We also helped defeat SB 2693 (Perry), which would have given TJJD authority to deny facility access to any advocacy organization that filed a federal complaint against the agency — a direct threat to oversight of a system already under U.S. Department of Justice investigation for constitutional violations.
Keeping reform on the table
The Reduce, Improve, and Reinvest Youth Justice Omnibus Bill (HB 31, Thompson) and Second Look (HB 200, Buckley) both advanced further than in prior sessions. HB 200 cleared the Texas House. Neither became law — but both kept the case for evidence-based reform alive at the Capitol, and both return as priorities in the 90th Session.
Young people, as their brains are maturing, they struggle with impulse control. They are particularly susceptible to peer influence. But it also makes them particularly amenable to change, especially when we look at protective factors and make sure that they have supportive adults, supportive environments, access to opportunities, and also opportunities to learn and grow from their mistakes.
Stephen Bishop, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Juvenile Justice Subcommittee · April 7, 2025 (89th R.S.)
Building the coalition that wins next time
The Reimagine Reform Workgroup, convened by LSJA in summer 2024, brought judges, probation leaders, youth, and practitioners together to draft the legislative priorities LSJA championed this session. Youth Justice Advocacy Day in February 2025 mobilized nearly 100 youth and practitioners to the Capitol. A partnership with African Methodist Episcopal and Methodist leaders produced a 167-signature clergy letter supporting Second Look — testimony that drew a "that'll preach" from Rep. Little on the committee dais.
What this proves. The 89th Session showed that a broad, cross-sector coalition — grounded in developmental science, lived experience, and faith — can stop the worst bills, pass the ones that matter most, and keep transformative reform on the legislative agenda. LSJA built that coalition. We're building it bigger for the 90th.
Reimaging Reform Report
