Justice Audit / Sentencing data / Texas / Harris County

Harris County, Texas sentencing data

As of August 31, 2026, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, 19,792 people sentenced in Harris County were held in Texas state prisons. Their median sentence is 10 years, about the same as the statewide median of 10 years. 42% are serving 20 years or more, compared with 37% statewide. The most common offense is aggravated robbery.

19,792people in prison

10 yearsmedian sentence (state: 10 years)

42%serving 20+ years (state: 37%)

1,784life sentences

See Harris County records County sentencing report

Sentences by offense: Harris County vs. Texas

Offenses with 10+ people. Median of the longest sentence from each person's most recent sentencing; life and death sentences not included.

Offense	People	Harris median (yrs)	Texas median (yrs)
Aggravated Robbery	3,277	15	15
Murder	2,263	35	35
Aggravated Assault	2,003	8	10
Aggravated Sexual Assault Child	1,219	20	25
Robbery	688	5	7
Possession Controlled Substance	626	4	6
Evading Arrest	512	4	6
Assault Family Violence	441	3	5
DWI	383	4	6
Burglary of Habitation	370	12	10
Aggravated Sexual Assault	314	33	30
Indecency with Child	306	10	10

Race

Group	People	Share
Black	10,293	52%
Hispanic	6,566	33%
White	2,763	14%
Asian	158	0.8%

Groups with fewer than 10 people are not shown.

Other Texas counties

Anderson Andrews Angelina Aransas Archer Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Cooke Coryell Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Delta Denton Dewitt Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards El Paso Ellis Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hardeman Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hunt Hutchinson Jack Jackson Jasper Jefferson Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kerr Kimble Kinney Kleberg Lamar Lamb Lampasas Lasalle Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Limestone Live Oak Llano Lubbock Lynn Madison Marion Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Moore Morris Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Rains Randall Real Red River Reeves Refugio Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terry Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Washington Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Young Zapata Zavala

About this data

Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice public inmate records. People currently in state prison custody whose longest sentence was imposed in Harris County, one record per person, using the longest sentence from their most recent sentencing. Criminal history is not in the data, so differences between counties can reflect prior records as well as sentencing practice.