Welcome to The Texas Justice NewsLadder, a new forum dedicated to highlighting the urgent need for criminal justice reform in the Lone Star State.

Texans expect and deserve a fair and accurate criminal justice system. Too often, however, the system comes up short for a variety of reasons. The problems include inadequate representation for indigent defendants and a reliance on unreliable evidence that has led to over 30 wrongful convictions exposed by DNA testing. In those egregious cases, an innocent person was imprisoned while the real perpetrator went uninvestigated and unpunished, free to commit more crimes. Texas deserves better. The parade of exonerations in Dallas County, which has taken the lead in reviewing cases where DNA is available for testing, demonstrates the need for reform throughout the state’s criminal justice system.

At The Texas Justice NewsLadder you will find news articles, photos, videos, blog posts and other materials designed to promote a greater understanding of the problems -- and potential solutions -- to the error-plagued Texas criminal justice system.

You are an important part of The Texas Justice NewsLadder. All you have to do is sign up, sign in and link to relevant stories or blog posts that you think are interesting. You vote stories up the ladder simply by clicking the plus or minus buttons under the large number to the left.