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Louisiana violent crime task force backed by Jeff Landry offers few specific proposals [1]

['Julie O Donoghue', 'Louisiana Illuminator', 'More Julie O Donoghue', 'Verite News']

Date: 2023-12-06

About a month before Gov.-elect Jeff Landry takes office, a state panel he helped set up to find ways to lower Louisiana’s crime rate has offered few specific proposals for improving public safety.

Landry, as attorney general, is technically the chairman of Louisiana’s Violent Crime Task Force, but he hasn’t attended a meeting since its first convened in September. Instead, assistant Attorney General Christopher Walters has served as Landry’s stand-in chairman for the group.

With Landry’s encouragement, lawmakers created the task force to review law changes made in 2016 and 2017 that Landry believes exacerbated the state’s crime problems. Specifically, Landry wants to undo the criminal justice overhaul Gov. John Bel Edwards pushed through during his first term in office.

Stacked with Landry allies, the task force was initially expected to collect public safety data and then make recommendations for legislative fixes in a report due Dec. 31.

But Walters suggested Monday the panel dial back its responsibilities. He recommended the group limit itself to “broad” proposals for legislation in order to give Landry and the new legislators room to provide their own ideas. The next governor and lawmakers will be sworn into office Jan. 8.

Landry made fighting crime central to his campaign for governor and has repeatedly said he intends to call a special legislative session focused on public safety issues shortly after he takes office.

What Landry might push in that crime special session remains largely unknown. The governor-elect hasn’t been specific about what he would like to change to help in crime-fighting efforts. It’s not even clear when the special session will be held, though it could come as soon as mid-January.

The task force was expected to offer somewhat of a window into Landry’s priorities. Instead, proposals discussed Monday leaned heavily on generalizations and language open to wide interpretation.

Some were also a repeat of ideas that had been previously suggested.

Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, recommended the state improve its criminal data collection. He and other task force members have complained heavily over the past couple of months that data they want to examine is either unavailable or unreliable.

“I think it can’t go without notice that the numbers are horribly skewed,” Bacala said.

This grievance isn’t new. Academics, criminal justice reform advocates and even fellow legislators have grumbled for years about the difficulty of collecting accurate crime data statewide.

Louisiana court systems and law enforcement agencies aren’t digitally integrated, which has been a barrier to information gathering efforts. Sheriffs, clerks of courts and police chiefs have also been unwilling to adopt additional reporting requirements unless the state put up huge amounts of funding to help them pay for technology upgrades.

Another task force member, Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, said the state needed to address the “veil of secrecy on violent juvenile offenders.”

Minors’ records and identities are often kept confidential, but with the blessing of Landry, Villio sought to change this dynamic last year. She proposed legislation to make juvenile justice records in Orleans, East Baton Rouge and Caddo parishes public, but the bill was stymied in the Louisiana Senate.

In an interview Monday, Villio said she wasn’t sure whether she would bring back her proposal for another round of debate in 2024.

“I’m not going to comment on specific legislation at this time,” she said.

Villio and a few other task force members also said they would push for what they call “truth in sentencing.”

Louisiana has hundreds of different criminal sentences, each with their own parole and release requirements. This has led to a convoluted and opaque system. When a person is sentenced to prison time, the prosecutor, victim, defendant and judge often don’t know when the approximate release date will be.

“We need a real-time understanding, whenever a sentence is passed, of when someone would be released,” said Loren Lampert, executive director of Louisiana District Attorneys Association and a task force member.

Edwards and legislators initially tried to tackle this problem in 2017 during the governor’s criminal justice overhaul. Proponents proposed moving Louisiana to a simpler, felony class system for criminal sentencing. The state would have applied a handful of generic prison sentences to dozens of similar crimes in Louisiana, instead of attaching unique sentences to each violation on the books. It was pitched as a way to make it easier to calculate potential release dates.

At the time, the district attorneys opposed the system, saying it would upend Louisiana’s legal system. The Edwards administration shelved the proposal after receiving political pushback.

Villio did not say what the new legislative approach to “truth in sentencing” might be, though reintroducing the class system doesn’t appear to be on the table.

The only specific criminal justice proposal getting traction is a reversal of the “Raise the Age” law. In 2016, Edwards and legislators approved legislation that gave prosecutors discretion to charge 17-year-olds accused of crime as either juveniles or adults. Previously, prosecutors were required to charge anyone 17 as an adult, which meant they were automatically sent to an adult prison if convicted.

Conservative legislators and law enforcement officials have complained that shifting more 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system has led to an increase in violence and a shortage of beds in youth detention centers.

There isn’t enough space in the state’s juvenile facilities to absorb all the 17-year-olds they’re being asked to hold, according to lawmakers seeking to repeal the “Raise the Age” law who say doing so would alleviate the capacity crunch.

Most of the task force and several legislators have already endorsed making such a change. Landry, who wants to target “juvenile crime” specifically, already appears to be on board.

This article first appeared on Louisiana Illuminator and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected]. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.

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If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @VeriteNewsNola on Facebook @VeriteNewsNola on Twitter. If you have any other questions, contact managing editor Tim Morris. Louisiana violent crime task force backed by Jeff Landry offers few specific proposals <h1>Louisiana violent crime task force backed by Jeff Landry offers few specific proposals</h1> by Julie O’Donoghue | Louisiana Illuminator, Verite News December 6, 2023 About a month before Gov.-elect Jeff Landry takes office, a state panel he helped set up to find ways to lower Louisiana’s crime rate has offered few specific proposals for improving public safety. Landry, as attorney general, is technically the chairman of Louisiana’s Violent Crime Task Force, but he hasn’t attended a meeting <a href="https://lailluminator.com/2023/09/20/violent-crime/">since its first convened in September</a>. Instead, assistant Attorney General Christopher Walters has served as Landry’s stand-in chairman for the group. With Landry’s encouragement, lawmakers <a href="https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=245134">created the task force</a> to review law changes made in 2016 and 2017 that Landry believes exacerbated the state’s crime problems. Specifically, Landry wants to undo the criminal justice overhaul Gov. John Bel Edwards pushed through during his first term in office. Stacked with Landry allies, the task force was initially expected to collect public safety data and then make recommendations for legislative fixes in a report due Dec. 31. But Walters suggested Monday the panel dial back its responsibilities. He recommended the group limit itself to “broad” proposals for legislation in order to give Landry and the new legislators room to provide their own ideas. The next governor and lawmakers will be sworn into office Jan. 8. Landry made fighting crime central to his campaign for governor and has repeatedly said he intends to call a special legislative session focused on public safety issues shortly after he takes office. What Landry might push in that crime special session remains largely unknown. The governor-elect hasn’t been specific about what he would like to change to help in crime-fighting efforts. It’s not even clear when the special session will be held, though it could come as soon as mid-January. The task force was expected to offer somewhat of a window into Landry’s priorities. Instead, proposals discussed Monday leaned heavily on generalizations and language open to wide interpretation. Some were also a repeat of ideas that had been previously suggested. Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, recommended the state improve its criminal data collection. He and other task force members have complained heavily over the past couple of months that data they want to examine is either unavailable or unreliable. “I think it can’t go without notice that the numbers are horribly skewed,” Bacala said. This grievance isn’t new. Academics, criminal justice reform advocates and even fellow legislators have grumbled for years about the difficulty of collecting accurate crime data statewide. Louisiana court systems and law enforcement agencies aren’t digitally integrated, which has been a barrier to information gathering efforts. Sheriffs, clerks of courts and police chiefs have also been unwilling to adopt additional reporting requirements unless the state put up huge amounts of funding to help them pay for technology upgrades. Another task force member, Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, said the state needed to address the “veil of secrecy on violent juvenile offenders.” Minors’ records and identities are often kept confidential, but with the blessing of Landry, Villio sought to change this dynamic last year. She proposed legislation to make <a href="https://apnews.com/article/juvenile-records-louisiana-e95896fcc0ca3e1a8d92409a345ad706">juvenile justice records in Orleans, East Baton Rouge and Caddo parishes public</a>, but the bill was stymied in the Louisiana Senate. In an interview Monday, Villio said she wasn’t sure whether she would bring back her proposal for another round of debate in 2024. “I’m not going to comment on specific legislation at this time,” she said. Villio and a few other task force members also said they would push for what they call “truth in sentencing.” Louisiana has hundreds of different criminal sentences, each with their own parole and release requirements. This has led to a convoluted and opaque system. When a person is sentenced to prison time, the prosecutor, victim, defendant and judge often don’t know when the approximate release date will be. “We need a real-time understanding, whenever a sentence is passed, of when someone would be released,” said Loren Lampert, executive director of Louisiana District Attorneys Association and a task force member. Edwards and legislators initially tried to tackle this problem in 2017 during the governor’s criminal justice overhaul. Proponents proposed moving Louisiana to a simpler, felony class system for criminal sentencing. The state would have applied a handful of generic prison sentences to dozens of similar crimes in Louisiana, instead of attaching unique sentences to each violation on the books. It was pitched as a way to make it easier to calculate potential release dates. At the time, the district attorneys opposed the system, saying it would upend Louisiana’s legal system. The Edwards administration shelved the proposal after receiving political pushback. Villio did not say what the new legislative approach to “truth in sentencing” might be, though reintroducing the class system doesn’t appear to be on the table. The only specific criminal justice proposal getting traction is a reversal of the “Raise the Age” law. In 2016, Edwards and legislators approved legislation that gave prosecutors discretion to charge 17-year-olds accused of crime as either juveniles or adults. Previously, prosecutors were required to charge anyone 17 as an adult, which meant they were automatically sent to an adult prison if convicted. Conservative legislators and law enforcement officials have complained that shifting more 17-year-olds to the juvenile justice system has led to an increase in violence and a shortage of beds in youth detention centers. There isn’t enough space in the state’s juvenile facilities to absorb all the 17-year-olds they’re being asked to hold, according to lawmakers seeking to repeal the “Raise the Age” law who say doing so would alleviate the capacity crunch. Most of the task force and several legislators have already endorsed making such a change. Landry, who wants to target “juvenile crime” specifically, already appears to be on board. This <a href="https://lailluminator.com/2023/12/06/louisiana-crime/">article</a> first appeared on <a href="https://lailluminator.com/">Louisiana Illuminator</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. figure, .tipContainer, .socContainer, .subscribeShortcodeContainer, .donateContainer {display:none !important;} .youtubeContainer { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom:12px; } .youtubeContainer iframe, .video-container object, .video-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100% !important; height: 100%; margin: 12px 0px !important; } .newsroomSidebar {width:35%;max-width:35%;padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;float:right;margin-left:50px;} .snrsInfoboxSubContainer {padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;} .halfwidth {float:right;width:50%;max-width:50%;} .indent2Container {margin-left: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; border-left: solid 1px black;padding-left: 2em;} @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {.newsroomSidebar {max-width:95%;width:95%;margin-left:4%} .halfwidth {float:none;width:100%;max-width:100%;} } <a href="https://lailluminator.com">Louisiana Illuminator</a> is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on <a href="https://facebook.com/louisianailluminator">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/IlluminatorLA">Twitter</a>. This <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org/2023/12/06/landry-violent-crime-task-force/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://veritenews.org">Verite News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/veritenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-Verite-icon.png?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://veritenews.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=11144" style="width:1px;height:1px;"> Copy to Clipboard

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