Laws

Julie O’Donoghue ( Louisiana Illuminator), November 19, 2024

BATON ROUGE, La. – Around 70 mental health professionals and educators in Louisiana have signed a letter urging state lawmakers to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that could send more young teenagers to adult prisons.
“[W]e are greatly concerned that young people would be denied age-appropriate, constitutionally protected services and interventions should this legislation pass,” reads the letter signed by social workers, therapists and counselors from around the state.
During a special legislative session focused on tax policy, state lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 2. It would lift limitations on the types of crimes for which people under the age of 17 can be sentenced as if they are adults. It would allow lawmakers to pass new laws to send 14- , 15- and 16-year-olds to adult prison for a wider set of crimes without having to seek statewide voter approval.
Mental health professionals oppose Louisiana sending more youth to adult prisons | News | ktbs.com

October 21, 2024

Louisiana officials expect to put tens of millions of dollars over the next two months into expanding juvenile detention centers that house children and teenagers accused of crimes.
At the beginning of the summer, Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana lawmakers diverted $100 million from a state savings account in order to make upgrades to criminal justice facilities. A large chunk of the money will be used to increase the state’s capacity to incarcerate youth offenders, though the exact amount hasn’t been set yet.
“We are trying to prioritize funding for regional juvenile facilities,” Christopher Walters, Landry’s deputy executive counsel, said at an August hearing. “We are lacking in bedspace for juvenile offenders.”
Gov. Jeff Landry, lawmakers to spend millions on juvenile detention center expansions (kplctv.com)

October 10, 2024

Louisiana’s criminal justice system now treats all 17-year-olds as adults. Lawmakers lowered the age from 18 to curb teen violence, but nearly 70 percent of the 17-year-olds arrested in the state’s three largest parishes aren’t accused of violent crimes.
. . . according to a review of arrests in the five months since the law took effect, most of the 17-year-olds booked in three of the state’s largest parishes have not been accused of violent crimes. Verite News and ProPublica identified 203 17-year-olds who were arrested in Orleans, Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes between April and September. A total of 141, or 69 percent, were arrested for offenses that are not listed as violent crimes in Louisiana law . . .
Just 13 percent of the defendants — a little over two dozen — have been accused of the sort of violent crimes that lawmakers cited when arguing for the legislation, such as rape, armed robbery and murder. Prosecutors were able to move such cases to adult court even before the law was changed.
A Law Was Meant to Target Teen Violence. Instead, 17-Year-Olds Are Being Charged as Adults for Lesser Offenses. (governing.com) 

August 12, 2024

Governor JB Pritzker today signed into law Senate Bill 3463, an amendment to the Juvenile Court Act, which creates a clear process for implementation of already existing juvenile expungement laws.
“It is no secret that the procedures of our court system can be difficult to navigate. People deserve to know what resources and rights are available to them,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “By cutting red tape and creating a process where expungement is more accessible, we can create more opportunities for more people who perhaps made a mistake when they were young, as we all have. This is a step in the right direction and I am proud to sign this legislation.”
Pritzker Signs Legislation Increasing Opportunity For Juveniles Seeking Expungement | RiverBender.com

July 5, 2024

Nearly a dozen more teenagers who were or are in custody at the Tulsa County Juvenile Justice Center have been added to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses center employees of rape, neglect, and harassment toward those in custody at the center. . .
One teenager says while he was in custody there, he was forced to remove his own stitches after being denied a follow-up appointment with a doctor. Others say they were denied medication they were prescribed, or the medications brought in by their parents were given to other kids. . .
These new allegations come after 20 victims have now accused detention staff of rape, child abuse, and harassment. Two former employees named in the suit, Jonathan Hines and Dquan Doyle, have been charged with felonies in Tulsa County.
Hines is being charged with human trafficking, soliciting a minor for indecent exposure, and destroying evidence. Doyle is being charged with sexual battery, indecent exposure, and aiding a minor in a drug crime.
https://www.newson6.com/story/6688aad86bc6e4ce19fd0ccc/federal-lawsuit-against-tulsa-county-juvenile-justice-center-expands-adds-ten-more-victims#:~:text=Nearly%20a%20dozen%20more%20teenagers,in%20custody%20at%20the%20center

June 25, 2024

The North Carolina legislature voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the Juvenile Justice Bill, otherwise known as Raise the Age, which was implemented in 2019.
The House voted, 70-46, on Wednesday, to override Cooper’s veto. On Thursday, the Senate voted in favor of overriding the veto.
House lawmakers in Raleigh toughened the system for some teens. It says that 16- and 17-year-olds charged with violent crimes, including murder, rape, armed robbery, and more, will automatically be charged as an adult in North Carolina.
It’s a change from 2019′s Raise the Age law, which sent all arrested teens younger than 18 to juvenile court first. Some lawmakers said the change brings accountability.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-overrides-cooper-s-veto-on-juvenile-justice-reform/ar-BB1oXdls

June 24, 2024

Starting next month, more kids who are charged with violent crimes will be automatically prosecuted as adults. In Louisville, police data show most will be Black.
During a legislative committee meeting in February, Sen. Matthew Deneen introduced a bill that he said would address an important issue in Kentucky — violent crime committed by kids. The solution, he said, is to start treating them as adults.
“If you’re a juvenile and you pick up a gun to commit a crime, you’re committing an adult crime, and you need to be tried as an adult,” said Deneen, a Republican from Elizabethtown.
The bill passed the full Kentucky legislature in April and will officially become law next month. When it does, any juvenile at least 15 years of age who commits a class A, B or C felony using a gun, whether the gun works or not, will be automatically sent to adult circuit court. A child convicted as an adult would receive the same penalties as an adult offender, except they’d be housed with other juveniles until their 18th birthday.
Youth advocates say the policy won’t address the root of the problem and will instead perpetuate a harmful cycle of inequity in the justice system.
https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2024-06-24/a-new-kentucky-law-will-send-more-youth-to-adult-court-black-kids-face-highest-risk

June 20, 2024

RALEIGH — Roy Cooper issued the 96th veto of his two terms as governor on a bill modifying the state’s “Raise the Age” law.
House Bill 834 modified the law by altering the definition of juvenile delinquent and requiring 16- and 17-year-olds who commit certain serious felonies to be sent automatically to Superior Court instead of juvenile court.
“Most violent crimes, even when committed by teenagers, should be handled in adult court. However, there are cases where sentences would be more effective and appropriate to the severity of the crime for teenagers if they were handled in juvenile court, making communities safer,” Cooper wrote in his veto message. “This bill makes this important option highly unlikely and begins to erode our bipartisan ‘Raise the Age’ law we agreed to four years ago.
https://nsjonline.com/article/2024/06/cooper-issues-96th-veto-on-raise-the-age-modifications-bill

June 5, 2024

DJJ has been plagued by problems ranging from low staffing to questions surrounding use-of-force and isolation techniques. With a federal investigation in the system announced just last month, Commissioner Randy White was not obliged to speak on those issues.
But the incoming commissioner told lawmakers he’s made a point of touring facilities, meeting with employees one-on-one, and making sure new reforms are implemented. He acknowledged the job has changed over his 30 years of experience.
“I can honestly say that juveniles entering the criminal justice system are a different population than they were 27 years ago,” White said. “They’re committing harsher crimes, which require stronger rehabilitative efforts.”
To that end, White emphasized that the state needs to focus on alternatives to detention, education, employment, and mental health.

May 14, 2024

State lawmakers are pushing to roll back landmark juvenile justice reforms, called the Raise The Age law, that passed with broad bipartisan support several years ago.
Until 2019, North Carolina was the only state in the country to still automatically charge all 16- and 17-year-olds in adult court, even for the most minor criminal charges. Raise The Age changed that by allowing those teenage offenders to be tried in juvenile court, while also leaving the option for particularly serious crimes to be moved up to adult court.
But now Republican lawmakers in the state Senate, working with a lobbyist for prosecutors, have proposed HB 834 that would let the state go back to automatically charging 16- and 17-year-olds as adults for a wide range of felony offenses. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — over opposition from advocates from civil liberties and racial justice groups, as well as Democratic lawmakers. . . .
Opponents all said scientific studies show teenage offenders are less likely to commit more crimes in the future if they go through the juvenile justice system, instead of the adult prison system.
“Teens in adult prisons are far more likely to encounter gangs and drugs, and to be assaulted and raped,” Tara Muller said. She leads the group Disability Rights North Carolina, which has filed multiple lawsuits outlining problems in state jails and prisons.
https://www.wral.com/story/juvenile-justice-rollbacks-penalties-on-protesters-new-sex-crimes-laws-advancing-in-nc-senate/21430711