Austin Justice

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@AustinJustice

Covering crime, courts, and policy in Austin. The local lens that explains national patterns. DMs open.

Austin, TX Joined December 2024

1K Following 21K Followers 5.3K Posts

Latest posts 5

Austin Justice @AustinJustice 4h

Austin will pay $3 million to decorate its new garbage truck yard.

The plan is to pay artists:
- $1.8 million for the garage façade
- $600,000 for five sculptures
- $300,000 for two murals on water cisterns
- $300,000 for a "suspended 3D artwork" over the lobby's staircase

Next week, Council votes on the $300,000 hanging piece by Carlyn Ray, a Dallas glass artist.

Austin Justice @AustinJustice 5h

The person with criminal tendencies benefits the most from punishment.

“It is actually the [would-be criminal] who benefits more from a system of laws that attributes blame and responsibility. Because he must climb the steeper hill, he is in greater need of the incentive and guidance the law will provide. If the hill were made flat to save him from the unfair exertion — such that each person was expected to behave only as biology might direct — we would make life only superficially easier for our aggressive young man, and much harder for both the better-behaved woman and for society more broadly.”

— James Q. Wilson, Social Scientist

Austin Justice @AustinJustice 5h

People with low impulse control and more tendencies to commit crime need swift, certain consequences to learn that actions have consequences.

Austin’s prosecutors and judges gave Bruce Williams 119 tries. He got ridiculously short sentences, rejected charges and a bus pass so he can go back to his favorite hangout spot he was already banned from.

Finally he messed with the wrong person and was killed.

Being soft on crime is not compassionate.

Austin Justice Verified account @AustinJustice 9h

AUSTIN MAN with 119 criminal cases is shot dead at Circle K after being released from jail with a bus pass and an order to stay away from the Circle K.

In August, Bruce Williams was arrested for trespassing at the gas station on Guadalupe. His bond order told him to stay away from there. It also said to call the mental health team, and if he didn't qualify, to release him with a bus pass.

On Thursday, he was back there. He followed a man through the parking lot, threatening to beat and kill him. The man turned around, shot him at close range, called 911, and waited for police. No charges have been filed so far.

Williams has three felony theft convictions since April last year, each with two or more prior thefts behind it. He got 18 days, 16 days, and 80 days. Prosecutors knocked one of those felonies down to a Class B misdemeanor. In January he was arrested for felony theft two days in a row, and DA Jose Garza's office rejected one of the cases. County Attorney Delia Garza's office declined two of his trespassing cases on Guadalupe.

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Austin Justice @AustinJustice 9h

AUSTIN MAN with 119 criminal cases is shot dead at Circle K after being released from jail with a bus pass and an order to stay away from the Circle K.

In August, Bruce Williams was arrested for trespassing at the gas station on Guadalupe. His bond order told him to stay away from there. It also said to call the mental health team, and if he didn't qualify, to release him with a bus pass.

On Thursday, he was back there. He followed a man through the parking lot, threatening to beat and kill him. The man turned around, shot him at close range, called 911, and waited for police. No charges have been filed so far.

Williams has three felony theft convictions since April last year, each with two or more prior thefts behind it. He got 18 days, 16 days, and 80 days. Prosecutors knocked one of those felonies down to a Class B misdemeanor. In January he was arrested for felony theft two days in a row, and DA Jose Garza's office rejected one of the cases. County Attorney Delia Garza's office declined two of his trespassing cases on Guadalupe.

Austin Justice @AustinJustice 22h

The City of Austin spent $66,000 on a women’s conference, including $11,550 for 7,000 promotional water bottles.

The conference was headlined by America Ferrera and Hoda Kotb. The money came from Austin Water’s water and wastewater operating funds, the Management Services department, and Austin Energy.

The Texas Conference for Women was Oct. 5 at the Moody Center. Tickets started at $445 each.