Texas Peace Bond - Can it Withstand Constitutional Attack

Abstract

Chapter 7 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure sets forth a procedure whereby an individual may be arrested, brought before a magistrate (including a justice of the peace), required to post a peace bond if the magistrate "be satisfied that there is just reason to apprehend that the offense was intended to be committed, or that the threat was seriously made," and committed to jail for a period of one year upon the individual's failure to post the required bond. Though this procedure is neither novel nor unique, there is a serious question whether it is consistent with either the due process clause or the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution.