UT Dallas Professor Named to Task Force That Will Evaluate the Texas Youth Commission

Dr. Paul E. Tracy, a professor of public policy and political economy at The University of Texas at Dallas, has been appointed to a task force that will recommend improvements in treatment and case management within the Texas Youth Commission. 

The task force, titled “Transforming Juvenile Justice in Texas:  A Framework for Action,” features prestigious juvenile justice experts from around the country and is chaired by Dr. David W. Springer, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin.  The scope of the task force’s charge includes recommendations for reforming the entire juvenile justice system in Texas.  The panel will report its findings to the Texas Legislature before the end of the current session.

The Texas Youth Commission is charged with responsibility for caring for, treating and educating the state’s most serious and chronic juvenile offenders.  In March, Texas Governor Rick Perry placed the agency under conservatorship to guide reform of its correctional and rehabilitative systems following reports of the sexual abuse of youth. 

Tracy, who joined the university in 1992, is editor of the prestigious criminology journal Crime and Delinquency and is founder of the Criminology Program in UT Dallas’ School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences.  He specializes in the study of criminal careers, juvenile delinquency and policy issues in the criminal and juvenile justice systems and has published extensively throughout his academic career.  Tracy received his Ph.D. in sociology from the Center for Studies in Criminology and Criminal Law at the University of Pennsylvania.

---