Perceived criminal-court caseloads vary wildly across parishes
With no uniform definition of what makes a ‘case,’ legislators must blindly guess at court caseloads.
Category
Criminal Justice
Asking why and how, and what needs to be done.
Carnival crackdown: What 100 gun arrest reports say about policing during Mardi Gras
During Mardi Gras in New Orleans, police ramp up gun enforcement in crowded areas like Bourbon Street. But a review of recent arrests shows deep racial disparities, legal concerns over stops and searches, and growing debate over whether these tactics meaningfully reduce violence.
Hearing at Loyola gives a rare look ‘behind the curtain,’ at an often-invisible part of Louisiana’s justice system
An on-campus hearing showed decisions about freedom decided in real time, for men who have prepared for decades for a chance at parole.
Did faulty court data drive the legislative push to cut 11 judges and clerk in Orleans Parish?
Filings tracked by the Louisiana Supreme Court significantly undercount the number of people processed in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in 2025.
Louisiana Senate rejects amendment to let newly elected clerk Calvin Duncan serve his term
In ‘deeply troubling’ move, senators pass three bills, cutting Duncan’s Orleans clerk position along with 11 New Orleans judges.
Louisiana DOC could grant earlier release to terminally ill people
Louisiana lawmakers are considering a proposal to expand medical parole, allowing terminally ill inmates to be released up to 120 days before their expected deaths.
Despite scant plans and heated criticism, Louisiana Senate committee passes bills to overhaul New Orleans courts
Drastic legislative cuts would eliminate 11 judgeships and would defund the position of recently elected clerk Calvin Duncan.
Stop building prisons and start investing in kids: the proven roadmap that Louisiana has ignored for 25 years
State lawmakers push to expand laws allowing guns on college campuses
“We can trust people with their rights,” says the sponsor of a campus-carry gun bill introduced in Louisiana, as debate simmers nationwide over self-defense versus a greater risk of gun violence.
The classroom as first courtroom: Jada’s story
Jada and other Black girls often take the first steps toward the delinquency pipeline in the schoolroom, where teachers too often misread curiosity as sassiness—or as Louisiana law describes it, "willful disobedience."
