Senate panel votes to repeal 'Raise the Age' law, send 17-year-olds to adult prison - The Advocate
Leaning on the nationwide crime wave, a state Senate committee without objection Tuesday advanced legislation to repeal the “Raise the Age law” and send 17-year-olds to adult prisons – even though five of the senators on the panel backed the law when it was passed in 2016.
Recalling specifics of recent shootings involving teenagers, Attorney General Jeff Landry, 18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton and former Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizaro, who now works for Landry, teamed together to testify that out-of-control teenagers are largely responsible for the increase in violent crimes Louisiana is experiencing and that the hurdles put in place by the “Raise the Age” law keeps law enforcement from being adequately able to handle.
“Give me the teeth to fight it,” said Clayton, who prosecutes crimes in Iberville, West Baton Rouge & Pointe Coupee parishes. “I’m giving ‘Raise the Age’ a break, but it’s not working … Let me lock his little butt up.”
Clayton showed a video of some of his 17-year-old constituents showing off guns and security footage of teenagers breaking into a vehicle to steal guns. He argued the law requires him to send a 17-year-old arrestee to Alabama, at a cost of $600 a day, because his parish jails, which cost $26 a day, can’t hold juveniles.
Landry added that the criminal justice system is in disarray. “It is important that we get bright line rules,” he said in support of Senate Bill 48.
Clayton’s real problem is that his parishes don’t have an adequate detention facility for juveniles and he doesn’t want to spend $600 a day, said Rachel Gassert, policy director at the New Orleans-based Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights.
“He will continue to have this problem,” even with the Raise the Age law repealed, Gassert said. “That is not a reason to repeal a law that’s going to impact the entire state … They are kids.”
Under existing law, trying an under-aged teenager as an adult for a violent crime is a simple procedure that the prosecutors themselves control.
The Raise the Age Act was signed into law in June 2016, making Louisiana the 42nd of 50 states to charge 17-year-olds as juvenile offenders, try them in juvenile courts and send them to juvenile detention facilities instead adult prisons. Studies show that youngsters in adult prisons often are preyed upon by adult inmates and are more likely to leave prison as seasoned criminals.
The legislation was overwhelmingly approved, including “yes” votes from Senate Judiciary B Committee Chair Gary L. Smith Jr, D-Norco; Sens Gregory Tarver, D-Shreveport; Joseph Bouie, D-New Orleans; Cameron Henry, R-Metairie; and Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge. The two other committee members – Patrick McMath, R-Covington; and Sen. Mike Reese, R-Leesville – weren’t elected until 2020.
Murders increased 30% nationally, 35% in Louisiana in 2020, but Louisiana has had highest murder rate for 32 straight years, testified Jeff Asher a data analyst for AH Datalytics that does work for New Orleans law enforcement. The statistics show large increases for violent crimes in red and blue states, big cities, small towns, and suburbs. The rates of murders started increasing began in early 2020, accelerated in May 2022, and have stayed elevated since.
Those under the age of 18, account for 4.4% of all murder offenders in Louisiana in 2020 – down from 5% since 2018.
Asher said the data shows no evidence that the implementation of Raise the Age in 2019 and 2020 contributed to the statewide increase in murder or gun violence.
“You’re saying that for every 100 murders committed in this country roughly five are done by juveniles,” Talbot said. “These statistics don’t make me feel better. Tony Clayton makes me feel better.”
source: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_2a448746-c597-11ec-959b-db8a3bb3be1d.html
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