This story was produced in partnership with the Garrison Project, an independent, nonpartisan organization addressing the crisis of mass incarceration and policing. It was 2016, and history was being made in Houston. For the first time in 40 years, a rapidly changing Harris County had elected a Democrat as its top prosecutor—arguably the most influential role over criminal justice policy in the state’s most populous county.
accused of relatively minor nonviolent crimes, including crimes associated with poverty, like trespassing and theft. In February 2024, as Ogg fights to remain in office and early voting is about to begin, she’s in a war in Houston politics—not against police groups and conservative activists who have defied and even
Ahead of a March 5 primary, Ogg had been admonished by the Harris County Democratic Party and out-fundraised by challenger Sean Teare, a former employee. Part of Ogg’s“No one person or office can be blamed for the problems in the criminal justice system in a place as massive as Harris County,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “But politically, that doesn’t always matter … she’s made enemies.
Soon after, her office began pursuing fewer nonviolent juvenile cases, which dropped from about 3,500 new misdemeanor cases filed in 2016 to fewer than 500 last year. Some of the lawyers Ogg dismissed seemed likely targets, those tied to overzealous prosecutions, scandals, or tightly connected to Ogg’s predecessor and opponent. But Ogg also axed some who were well-respected for their work in specialized areas like innocence review and public integrity. —again before her job had officially started—and blasted some of the soon-to-be unemployed lawyers.
Ogg found even more detractors when she changed how the office decided whether to pursue criminal charges. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has long used a rare, well-loved system for accepting cases: Instead of first reviewing a police file sometime after a person has been arrested and taken to jail, local law enforcement agencies often consult a prosecutor by phone who decides on the spot whether to accept the case as it stands.
Ogg overhauled the division, eliminating the rotation and instead staffing intake positions with people whose full-time job was deciding whether or not to accept cases. She argues it’s a more consistent and cost-effective system.