The Bail Post
What do we know about criminal justice reforms or bail reform? How do we evaluate whether reforms are helping or making the situation worse? How can we take politics out of criminal justice and focus on public safety? The Bail Post seeks to be a place where legislators and the public can educate themselves on a host of criminal justice/bail reform issues. With various attempts at criminal justice reform from New York to Texas to California, many people are confused as to what is working and what is not. With the passage of time, more and more data is coming to light over what successful reform looks like and what reforms have been found to not be working. The rise in violent crime across the country has been startling and law makers and the public alike are desperate to find legislation that is effective. Some might ask whether some of the reforms making the situation worse? The Bail Post is an on-going discussion that seeks to cut to the core to provide education on the various issues raised and to highlight what successful criminal justice reform looks like and what measures have been disastrous. Join us and educate yourself about the best practices that jurisdictions must implement to keep their communities safe, while ensuring fairness to defendants. As a someone said recently "Public safety is the foundation of a society. Without public safety we do not have a society."
If you would like to listen other episodes of The Bail Post you can find a subject matter index of the different episodes at- https://pbtx.blogspot.com/p/subject-index-to-bail-post-podcasts.html.
The host is Ken W. Good; an attorney in Tyler, Texas who has been licensed for over 30 years. He has argued cases before the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Good has written a book on bail called "Goods On Bail." He has also has had numerous papers published on Criminal Justice Reform issues. Mr. Good is a board member of PBT and serves on the legislative committee. Mr. Good is married and has two daughters.
The Bail Post
Episode No. 43- Playing the Numbers Game with Guest The Honorable Judge Tim O'Hare
A County Judge can be the judge of a constitutional county court, a judge of a county court at law or the judge presiding over a county's commissioners court. On this episode of The Bail Post our guest is the The Honorable Judge Tim O'Hare. He is the Tarrant County Judge over the commissioners court. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991 with a BBA in Finance, he went on to earn his law degree from SMU School of Law in 1995.
Tim spent the last twenty-five years building a successful legal practice and real estate investment company. During this time, Judge O’Hare earned the title of “Texas Super Lawyer” nine consecutive years.
Judge O'Hare took office in January 2023 and just finished his first budget cycle for Tarrant County where the commissioners court cut the county's budget saving the taxpayers millions of dollars.
How does a first term county judge navigate local politics and get various office holders to agree to cut their budgets? Also, Judge O'Hare touches on the importance of public safety for the county's budget.