Louisiana is embracing a tough approach to crime with sweeping new laws

In 2017, Louisiana overhauled its criminal justice system with broad bipartisan support, all in an effort to lose the distinction of having the highest incarceration rate in the country. The sentences were reduced. The possibilities for early release were expanded. Alternatives to prison were introduced.

But seven years later, the state is sending a very different message: Those days are over.

Lawmakers, at the urging of a new Republican governor, rushed through a special session last month to roll back the 2017 changes. Bills were passed to lengthen sentences for some crimes, to strictly limit access to parole, to prosecute 17-year-olds charged with any crime as adults, and to allow execution methods beyond lethal injection. This latest change is intended to allow the state to reintroduce the death penalty after more than a decade.

“I have promised the people of this state that if elected governor, I would do everything in my power to improve the safety of our communities,” Gov. Jeff Landry said as he declared victory as the session ended closed last week. “I can proudly say that we have kept that promise.”

Mr Landry, who took office in January, and his supporters argue the new tough measures are needed to tackle violence and crime. that rose in parts of the state during the pandemic. But critics argue that the new laws are variations on flawed past policies and would have the same consequences: disproportionately punishing people of color, destroying hope and pathways to rehabilitation for prisoners, and imposing a staggering price on taxpayers.

“None of these bills will do anything to increase public safety or reduce crime in our communities,” said Sarah Omojola, executive director of Vera Louisiana, a nonprofit focused on reducing incarceration and preventing of violence. “All these bills do is expand incarceration at a very high cost to Louisianans.”

While Louisiana has been particularly aggressive, other states have also dialed back their efforts to experiment with new approaches to criminal justice. Oregon lawmakers, who had sought to decriminalize hard drugs, passed legislation last week to reimpose criminal penalties for possession of certain drugs after public drug use and overdose deaths increased.

In Louisiana, Mr. Landry, a former police officer and sheriff’s deputy who served two terms as attorney general, focused his campaign for governor on tackling crime.

He was responding to public safety concerns amid a surge in violent crimes and other crimes during the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting a national trend. The number of murders increased enormously in New Orleans, reaching levels not seen in decades and being the highest in the country in 2022. Carjackings were also widespread. The city’s police force was exhausted of officers and moral.

Crime rates have remained stable over the past year. In New Orleans, homicides fell by about 25 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year, surpassing the national decline.

Yet almost immediately after taking office, Mr. Landry called for a special session in February devoted to crime, arguing that more could be done. “We will defend and strengthen our law enforcement officers and provide real justice to victims of crimes that have been overlooked for far too long,” he said at the start of the session.

The Legislature, which has Republican majorities in both chambers, has quickly introduced a flood of bills.

The measures increase the penalty for carjackings to as much as five years in prison; impose harsher penalties for distributing or marketing fentanyl in child-resistant packaging; and allowing concealed carry of a handgun without a permit. “This is a testament to our commitment to the Second Amendment and the right of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families without unnecessary government intrusion,” Senator Blake Miguez, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement.

The Legislature has also passed bills that would eliminate this the possibility of early release for most prisoners convicted of a crime after August 1 and would force prisoners to serve 85 percent of their sentences before they could be released for good behavior.

Lawmakers also approved the use of electrocution and nitrogen gas in executions, and shielding information about the companies that produce and supply the lethal injection drugs. The state has not carried out an execution in fourteen years, mainly because the difficulty of obtaining those medications.

Opponents say the policy will saddle the state with the astronomical costs of housing more prisoners for longer, while providing few benefits. “The ‘lock them up and throw away the key’ approach isn’t working,” said House Democratic Leader Matthew Willard. “These new laws do nothing to prevent crime before it happens.”

But elected officials who support the measures argue the laws will create a safer environment that will boost economic growth. “Crime certainly has a price,” said Laurie Schlegel, the Republican representative who sponsored the bills for tougher penalties for carjacking and fentanyl distribution.

The session’s assertive approach illustrated how eager Louisiana Republicans were to dismantle the legislative legacy of Gov. John Bel Edwards, the two-term Democrat who preceded Mr. Landry, and adopt policies that would have thwarted Mr. Edwards. .

“I’m not surprised that we’re seeing the results that we’re seeing,” said Edward E. Chervenak, director of the University of New Orleans Survey Research Center. “Republicans can easily topple Democrats in both houses, and they have a kindred spirit in the governor’s house.”

Before Mr. Landry took office, Mr. Edwards often stymied Republicans who otherwise controlled the state government. He issued 319 vetoes as governor, and only two were overturned by lawmakers.

Mr. Edwards, the last Democratic governor in the Deep South, has irritated many in his own party with his conservative positions on abortion and gun rights. Still, he scored some victories that were championed by progressives; the overhaul of the justice system – known as the Louisiana Justice Reinvestment Act – was one of them.

Many states made similar changes. There was broad agreement at the time that a less punitive approach to low-level offenders and tackling the causes of crime, such as drug addiction, could make the criminal justice system more effective and free up resources to be used to prosecute violent offenders.

In Louisiana – long considered the “the prison capital of the world” – the law felt like a monumental achievement.

“The political stars aligned in a way that we had never seen before in Louisiana and will never see again for a while,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. “It looked like a solar eclipse.”

Supporters of the reinvestment law acknowledged that the changes would be vulnerable to attack, but they were startled by the speed with which lawmakers moved to overturn the law over the past month.

“I think what we didn’t expect is that these rollbacks would happen in such a coordinated and rapid manner,” Ms. Omojola said, “regardless of the facts and the data and the research that said they were a bad idea.”

But Mr. Landry had made it clear that his sights were set on a serious approach.

In a recent opinion essay published in Gannett’s Louisiana newspapersMr. Landry and one of the state’s Republican U.S. senators, John Kennedy, argued that the package of laws had fueled a rise in crime in 2017 and “prioritized the comfort of violent criminals over the safety of Louisiana families.”

“This special session,” they wrote, “was the first step in taking back our streets and empowering our citizens.”

Critics said they had no doubt the new legislation would have profound consequences, and would not address the deeper reasons behind crime; They believe this would make communities safer.

“It’s not about being ‘tough on crime,’” Ms. Omojola said. “It’s about taking safety seriously.”