‘State dollars attached to each juvenile’ would allow sheriffs to build more local juvenile-detention centers, then get paid to keep kids who are placed in state custody. Is the state paying to keep kids closer to home or incentivizing people to put kids in jail?
Category: Criminal Justice
Posted inOpinion
Tulane and Port NOLA using arrests to silence Palestine protesters
On Wednesday morning, May 1, at 2 a.m., Tulane and Loyola student protesters woke up in their sleeping bags to a police raid. State troopers were dressed in tactical vests and helmets, carrying automatic weapons, as they cleared the site. “A riot cop pointed a sniper rifle at my head,” said Loyola SDS student Juleea […]
Posted inOpinion
Paintbrush, iPad, or Glock?
Recently, I attended a showcase at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center, where this city’s arrested youth are held pre-trial. I was invited by artist Journey Allen, who directs youth education for the Young Artists Movement (YAM), the citywide mural initiative that I helped to found eight years ago. To present the showcase, JJIC set up […]
Posted inOpinion
New criminal-justice laws bring unforeseen consequences
As Louisiana’s regular legislative session begins, all eyes are on the state’s criminal justice policy, particularly the $26-million appropriations bill aimed at implementing stricter crime-prevention measures. We live in this community and see public safety as a priority within our city and state — and within the Orleans Justice Center. Yet, some of the special […]
Posted inOpinion
Senate Bill 8, which is now law, favors tyranny over justice
The bill gives only the governor – not an independent board – the power to hand-pick the State Public Defender to run Louisiana’s public-defense system.
Posted inCriminal Justice
New Orleans criminal-justice leaders grapple with entering the Landry era
Sheriff Hutson says increased jail population, addition of juveniles, could exacerbate staffing issue to “unmanageable levels.”
Posted inCommunity resources
Join us March 21 to learn how to find public records related to criminal justice
The event will take place from 6 to 7:30 on Thursday, March 21, at Propeller.
Posted inOpinion
Senate Bill 3 most likely to affect teens charged with petty crimes.
The Louisiana legislature is poised to pass Senate Bill 3, which would lower the age to criminally prosecute children as adults to seventeen. This move will exclude all 17-year-olds from the juvenile justice system, no matter what they’re accused of. Issues such as a school-yard fight or shoplifting — while by no means trivial — […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Gun-arrest data raises questions about profiling
Last year, on Mardi Gras Day, New Orleans police made more gun arrests than any single day in at least 13 years, maybe more, according to arrest data kept on the City Council website, which only goes back that far. Officers arrested 40 people. Most were on Bourbon Street. More were charged with the same misdemeanor […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
District Attorney Jason Williams will cede some New Orleans cases to state prosecutors. What does that mean for criminal justice in the city?
As state police make arrests in New Orleans, the state AG will prosecute the cases, through a new strange-bedfellows partnership between Williams and Gov. Jeff Landry.