A bill that would lower the age juveniles can be tried as adults from 18 to 17 moved forward in the Louisiana Senate Tuesday (Feb. 20).
The Judiciary C committee voted 5-1 to send the bill to the full Senate, which is expected to act on it later this week. The proposal is one of two dozen bills being considered during a special session on crime called by Gov. Jeff Landry that runs through March 6.
The bill would effectively reverse a key measure of the 2016 “Raise the Age” law, which mandated that the state prosecute 17-year-old defendants under the juvenile system, with exceptions for those accused of serious crimes.
Landry’s special session is largely designed to reverse a host of criminal justice system reforms made under the 2017 Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which passed with bipartisan support and was championed by former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. A recent report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor credited the package of 10 bills with producing savings of about $153 million in incarceration costs.
The vote followed a long, contentious meeting during which dozens of speakers implored the committee members to reject the bill or, at the least, turn it into a study. They warned it would take away discretion from district attorneys, traumatize children whose brains aren’t fully formed by placing them in adult prisons for relatively minor crimes, and primarily hurt Black children.
Ashley Hamilton, director of policy for the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, said that lowering the age was not needed as prosecutors already have the power to charge juveniles who commit violent crimes as adults. All the proposed legislation would do is ensure that children who commit nonviolent offenses would now be tossed into the same correctional facilities as 30- and 40-year-olds, she said.
“A one-size-fits-all approach is not going to make our communities safer,” Hamilton said.
Proponents of the legislation, authored by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, said it is necessary to give prosecutors the tools they need to combat violent crime being committed by juveniles who, they claimed, currently have no fear of consequences or the law.
Tony Clayton, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, said fentanyl dealers are using juveniles to sell their product because, if caught, they know the teens will only serve a few years. He also rejected arguments that juveniles can’t be held to the same standard as adults simply because their brains haven’t fully developed.
“It’s not about mind development. It’s developed enough to pull the trigger,” Clayton said. “It’s pathetic what we’re having to deal with every day with these juveniles. They have taken these communities hostage and it’s time for us to fight back.”
Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, was the lone vote against Cloud’s bill. Barrow had proposed an amendment to give district attorneys discretion over how to prosecute 17-year-olds. Children are often the victims of violence and abuse, and prosecutors should take those circumstances into consideration on a case-by-case basis before teens are sent to adult facilities, Barrow said.
“Many (children) are screaming for help, and we don’t hear them,” she said before the committee voted down her amendment.
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