Data doesn’t warrant Louisiana criminal justice overhaul, groups say

As the Louisiana Legislature convened Monday for its special session on crime, policy research groups cautioned lawmakers to make decisions based on actual crime data rather than on gut feelings and anecdotes. 

Reset Louisiana, a coalition that includes three nonpartisan organizations — the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL), the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR) and the Committee of 100 — issued a news release to that effect Monday morning. 

Even the conservative group Right on Crime mirrored Reset’s stance with its own statement.

The groups urged lawmakers not to repeal the bipartisan criminal justice reform package, known as the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, approved in 2017 that reduced prison populations by steering nonviolent offenders into alternative corrections programs.

“Some blame these reforms for the rise in crime following the COVID-19 outbreak,” Reset’s news release said. “Believing this would require ignoring the fact that crime increased across the country during and after COVID caused widespread social and economic disruptions. Already, violent crime rates are starting to fall in Louisiana and other states as we move further from the pandemic.”

Gov. Jeff Landry’s agenda for the special session focuses heavily on rolling back the 2017 initiative, and lawmakers have filed a number of bills to accomplish that goal. In his address to lawmakers Monday, Landry said the state’s criminal justice system has “lost its balance.”

The governor’s agenda includes a proposal to make it more difficult for prisoners to obtain parole and legislation to eliminate the ability for prisoners to reduce their sentences through good behavior. Another bill would make it more difficult to appeal convictions, regardless of whether the person might be innocent.

“Crime is out of control across Louisiana,” House Speaker Phillip DeVillier said in a statement Monday. “This session, we’re going to focus on the victims, not the criminals, so we can make our state a better and safer place to live. Our citizens deserve to peacefully live in their cities, towns, communities and homes. They have to be able to trust the rule of law.”

Crime rates have fallen in Louisiana, according to Reset. A return to warehousing nonviolent offenders would only cost state taxpayers more money and not impact overall public safety, the coalition’s news release said.  

“Little evidence exists to show that imprisoning criminals with longer sentences reduces crime or recidivism, though it definitely will cost taxpayers more money and put a greater strain on the budget,” they said.

The package of bills approved in 2017 saved the state nearly $153 million over nearly five years, according to the 2022 Justice Reinvestment Initiative annual performance report.

Although available statistics suggest crime rates are falling across the country, there are large gaps and limitations in crime data that make it difficult for researchers to determine clear trends. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor highlighted this issue in a report last week that recommended legislation to improve the gathering and sharing of criminal justice data.

“Identifying overall trends within the criminal justice system can be challenging because, in Louisiana, there is no agency that regularly compiles or analyzes data across all datasets in order to gain a complete picture of criminal justice trends,” the auditor’s report said.

New Orleans and Baton Rouge saw significant drops in homicides last year, but Shreveport saw a significant increase. At the same time, the overall rate of violent crime in Shreveport fell in 2023. Nationwide, 2023 marked the largest single year decline in homicide numbers. 

“We can’t allow politics and short-term political wins to dismantle the good work being done by the 2017 JRI package,” Right on Crime Louisiana Director Scott Peyton said. “We have an opportunity to fix what needs improvement and to build on the successes which are clearly making a positive difference in our criminal justice system.”