A recent media report claims youth on youth assaults at Texas Youth Commission lockups are up. TYC denies it, but critics say that's spin.
The report says rate of confirmed youth on youth assaults more than tripled since 2006.
But TYC's Jim Hurley says the Texas Tribune looked at a small subset of figures, not overall data.
"In raw numbers we went from, in 2001 we had over 10,000 youth on youth assaults; in 2011 we're down to 3,000."
Hurley says the paper unfairly cited cases where guards felt additional action was necessary. But UT Professor Michele Deitch is skeptical.
"I think it's complicated and it's important to review the statistics in context; but overall it appears that assaults are up."
Professor Deitch says the commission needs to focus on rehabilitation and education.
Deitch says the population in the TYC facilities is smaller, but more violent now since the legislature approved reforms.
