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Louisiana May Stop Funneling Teenagers Into Adult Prisons
BY CARIMAH TOWNES
MAY 4, 2016 8:00 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MELINDA DESLATTE
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
In 2007, after white students hung nooses on a tree the day after a black student sat beneath it, racial tensions boiled over at Jena High School in Louisiana. Soon after the incident, a white student was beaten by a group of black students dubbed the Jena 6 — all of whom were arrested and charged with attempted murder instead of assault.
Theodore Shaw was one of the Jena 6, but he always maintained his innocence. As a 17-year-old at the time, he was locked up with adult criminals for seven months because his family couldn’t afford his bail. And throughout the duration of his incarceration, he fought hard to convince himself that he wasn’t a criminal.
“I temporarily felt foreign to myself, because I was beginning to feel like a problem child — it was how they perceived me to be,” he previously told ThinkProgress. “When I was in the mugshot and wearing an orange jumpsuit, being incarcerated with adults 24/7, it forced me to feel like something was wrong with me. It took a lot of effort, mentally, to reject their perspectives about me.”
Now, for the first time since 1908, the state is rethinking a harsh law that automatically funnels 17-year-olds, like Shaw, into the adult legal system no matter how minor their offenses are.
By a vote of 33-4, the Louisiana Senate passed Senate Bill 324, also known as the Raise the Age Act, to define adult offenders as people aged 18 or older. If the bill passes through the House, 17-year-olds will be kept in age-appropriate courts and detention facilities that are rehabilitative — not punitive — in nature. That means teenagers who commit low-level offenses, such as smoking marijuana or fist-fighting, won’t be treated like hardened criminals. But district attorneys will still use their discretion to send violent offenders to adult courts or keep them in the juvenile system.
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Louisiana's Budget Crisis Spells Doomsday For Justice In New Orleans
Louisiana is one of nine states that still consider 17-year-olds adults under the law. But when teenagers are held in charged and detained as adults, they are at greater risk of sexual assault suicide and beatings because they aren't guaranteed safety protections that juveniles receive. They are denied educational opportunities and medical and mental health treatment that kids in juvenile facilities benefit from, and don't have the opportunity to work with social workers or child advocates. Teenagers charged or convicted as adults also wind up with a criminal record that limits their future job and educational prospects.
The recidivism rate for 17-year-olds in Louisiana is currently 20 times greater than that of 17-year-olds admitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice.
Stories like Shaw's are common, which is why juvenile justice experts have pushed the state to raise the age for years. But the bill wasn't introduced until early this year as one of Gov. John Bel Edwards' (D) legislative priorities.
Edwards is currently cleaning up the budget disaster left by predecessor Bobby Jindal (R), which has left the state's justice system in shambles. Public defenders' budgets are squeezed to the point that investigations have been thrown out while other people in need of representation are turned away. Some state public defender offices are planning to stop taking juvenile cases altogether this summer, leaving them to fend for themselves.
The ballooning financial crisis actually gives the Raise the Age Act a better shot of passage, according to Josh Perry, the Executive Director for the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights. Perry thinks members of the House will be swayed to support the bill because of its long-term economic benefits.
"Louisiana budgetary concerns are shaping every conversation," Perry told ThinkProgress. The New Orleans-based organization provides legal defense for the state's juveniles from the time they are arrested to the time they are released from the youth system. "It’s critically important that we use taxpayer funds responsibly, which I think has given ‘Raise the Age’ a boost. People are recognizing increasingly that raising the age is going to create meaningful savings for the state."
The Raise the Age Act is based on findings from Louisiana State University, which the legislature hired to study the consequences of charging and prosecuting 17-year-olds as adults. Researchers concluded that raising the age would reduce the recidivism rate among 17-year-olds by 34 percentand save millions.
Shortly after the Senate vote, Edwards said, “Not only is this common sense policy, it is — more importantly — about not giving up on any child. We know that 17-year-olds who do time in an adult facility are at a greater risk for assault and are more likely to end up back in prison.”
Perry and his team are "really optimistic" that the bill will be signed into law soon. If passed, Louisiana will have four years to make the transition and work out any kinks that arise, even though LSU and LCCR determined that the juvenile justice system could accommodate all 17-year-olds within the next year.
"We’ve already decided as a society that 18 is the age of adulthood for smoking, voting, sitting on juries, buying lottery tickets, for serving in the military, for virtually any purpose," Perry pointed out. "It just makes sense to raise the age for our justice system now. We recognize that our criminal justice system isn’t working to keep our communities safe."
Louisiana May Stop Funneling Teenagers Into Adult Prisons
BY CARIMAH TOWNES
MAY 4, 2016 8:00 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MELINDA DESLATTE
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
In 2007, after white students hung nooses on a tree the day after a black student sat beneath it, racial tensions boiled over at Jena High School in Louisiana. Soon after the incident, a white student was beaten by a group of black students dubbed the Jena 6 — all of whom were arrested and charged with attempted murder instead of assault.
Theodore Shaw was one of the Jena 6, but he always maintained his innocence. As a 17-year-old at the time, he was locked up with adult criminals for seven months because his family couldn’t afford his bail. And throughout the duration of his incarceration, he fought hard to convince himself that he wasn’t a criminal.
“I temporarily felt foreign to myself, because I was beginning to feel like a problem child — it was how they perceived me to be,” he previously told ThinkProgress. “When I was in the mugshot and wearing an orange jumpsuit, being incarcerated with adults 24/7, it forced me to feel like something was wrong with me. It took a lot of effort, mentally, to reject their perspectives about me.”
Now, for the first time since 1908, the state is rethinking a harsh law that automatically funnels 17-year-olds, like Shaw, into the adult legal system no matter how minor their offenses are.
By a vote of 33-4, the Louisiana Senate passed Senate Bill 324, also known as the Raise the Age Act, to define adult offenders as people aged 18 or older. If the bill passes through the House, 17-year-olds will be kept in age-appropriate courts and detention facilities that are rehabilitative — not punitive — in nature. That means teenagers who commit low-level offenses, such as smoking marijuana or fist-fighting, won’t be treated like hardened criminals. But district attorneys will still use their discretion to send violent offenders to adult courts or keep them in the juvenile system.
Related Post
Louisiana's Budget Crisis Spells Doomsday For Justice In New Orleans
Louisiana is one of nine states that still consider 17-year-olds adults under the law. But when teenagers are held in charged and detained as adults, they are at greater risk of sexual assault suicide and beatings because they aren't guaranteed safety protections that juveniles receive. They are denied educational opportunities and medical and mental health treatment that kids in juvenile facilities benefit from, and don't have the opportunity to work with social workers or child advocates. Teenagers charged or convicted as adults also wind up with a criminal record that limits their future job and educational prospects.
The recidivism rate for 17-year-olds in Louisiana is currently 20 times greater than that of 17-year-olds admitted to the Office of Juvenile Justice.
Stories like Shaw's are common, which is why juvenile justice experts have pushed the state to raise the age for years. But the bill wasn't introduced until early this year as one of Gov. John Bel Edwards' (D) legislative priorities.
Edwards is currently cleaning up the budget disaster left by predecessor Bobby Jindal (R), which has left the state's justice system in shambles. Public defenders' budgets are squeezed to the point that investigations have been thrown out while other people in need of representation are turned away. Some state public defender offices are planning to stop taking juvenile cases altogether this summer, leaving them to fend for themselves.
The ballooning financial crisis actually gives the Raise the Age Act a better shot of passage, according to Josh Perry, the Executive Director for the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights. Perry thinks members of the House will be swayed to support the bill because of its long-term economic benefits.
"Louisiana budgetary concerns are shaping every conversation," Perry told ThinkProgress. The New Orleans-based organization provides legal defense for the state's juveniles from the time they are arrested to the time they are released from the youth system. "It’s critically important that we use taxpayer funds responsibly, which I think has given ‘Raise the Age’ a boost. People are recognizing increasingly that raising the age is going to create meaningful savings for the state."
The Raise the Age Act is based on findings from Louisiana State University, which the legislature hired to study the consequences of charging and prosecuting 17-year-olds as adults. Researchers concluded that raising the age would reduce the recidivism rate among 17-year-olds by 34 percentand save millions.
Shortly after the Senate vote, Edwards said, “Not only is this common sense policy, it is — more importantly — about not giving up on any child. We know that 17-year-olds who do time in an adult facility are at a greater risk for assault and are more likely to end up back in prison.”
Perry and his team are "really optimistic" that the bill will be signed into law soon. If passed, Louisiana will have four years to make the transition and work out any kinks that arise, even though LSU and LCCR determined that the juvenile justice system could accommodate all 17-year-olds within the next year.
"We’ve already decided as a society that 18 is the age of adulthood for smoking, voting, sitting on juries, buying lottery tickets, for serving in the military, for virtually any purpose," Perry pointed out. "It just makes sense to raise the age for our justice system now. We recognize that our criminal justice system isn’t working to keep our communities safe."
Louisiana May Stop Funneling Teenagers Into Adult Prisons
