#OTD in 1923 Gov Pat Neff signed Senate Bill No. 8 prohibiting law enforcement from torturing suspects to secure a confession for a crime. This was another measure reforming police procedure, inspired by Rep. JT Canales and regarded as one of the Canales Reforms.

The Constitution and law banned such torture, yet police still engaged in this practice, called the “third degree.” Such illegally obtained evidence could be used in court, but the most egregious form of this practice often led to extralegal lynching.

The law stated that if any “sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable, ranger, city marshal, chief of police, policeman or any other public officer” tortured a person to secure a confession, that officer would “be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,” punishable by a fine.

Canales had brought up “third degree” practices in the Canales Investigation. Although he was no longer in office, SB 8 was a Canales Reform. These measures, coming as they did after the Investigation, would seem to confirm there were indeed serious problems with the Rangers. It should also be noted that at this time Gov Neff also supported further reducing the number of Rangers. That number had hovered around fifty men since 1919, but dropped to thirty after Neff’s request for a reduction.

This thread is a part of the #OTD in Ranger history campaign that @Refusing2Forget is running this year. Follow this twitter handle or https://refusingtoforget.org/ranger-bicentennial-project/, and visit our website https://refusingtoforget.org to learn more.

The key source for this thread is @HistoryBrian’s  https://uncpress.org/book/9781469670126/borders-of-violence-and-justice/

Refusing to Forget members are  @ccarmonawriter @carmona2208 @acerift @soniahistoria @BenjaminHJohns1 @LeahLochoa @MonicaMnzMtz and @Alacranita, another co-founder is @GonzalesT956

@emmpask @sdcroll @HistoryBrian @LorienTinuviel @hangryhistorian, @ddsanchez432! , Brent Campney, and Miguel Levario are other scholars working on this project.