Sheriffs, and the limits of declining to enforce

Outline. This is not a finished essay.

The claim

County sheriffs and local prosecutors are real offices, and this version of the scorecard folds them into the attorney general and the local brief. That is a gap, not a theory.

Why the gap matters

A statute the attorney general will not defend can still be charged by a county. A chapter that only watches the statewide race will miss the desk where the case is actually filed. The Travis County sample brief exists to show the shape of that note.

Limits of "we just won't enforce it"

• A policy of non-enforcement can end with the next officeholder, with no change in the statute.
• It does not travel. The person who moves counties is back under the penalty.
• It is not a repeal, and chapters should not describe it as one.

To be written

• When a local non-enforcement policy should change the reach score.
• When it should not, because the penalty remains available to the next sheriff.