Criminal justice reforms working beyond original goals
Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, July 24, 2019
From the looks of it, the criminal justice reforms enacted two years ago in Louisiana are living up to their promises and then some.
The reforms haven’t been without criticism, but new numbers released by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections show the state saved tens of millions of dollars in its second year.
Louisiana saved $17.8 million as its prison population fell from July 1, 2018, to June 30 this year. That’s up from $12 million in savings reported as of June 30, 2018.
The state’s inmate population fell to 31,756, according to the department. The amount of prisoners hasn’t been that low since the 1990s.
The money saved through fewer inmates can be used to pay for efforts that are designed to keep criminals from going back to prison and helping those victimized by crime.
Of the $12 million saved during the reforms’ first year, $8.5 million was put into those programs. Officials in August will confirm the amount to be reinvested from the current savings.
Part of the money will be split between programs that help keep people from going to prison at all, or stop them from returning. Crime victim services will get a piece of the dollars, and the Department of Public Safety and Corrections will get money for improvements.
Along with adults, at-risk youth need to have the attention and resources to ensure they don’t fall into a life of crime. If the state can help turn around a young person’s life sooner than later, it can be another step in lowering the prison population.
This year, money will be set aside for the Office of Juvenile Justice. Officials there told the Advocate it will help pay for pretrial alternatives, versus spending time in a detention center.
Natalie Laborde, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, mentioned the connection between youth and the prisoners “that eventually end up in the adult population.”
Along with the savings, nearly 6,000 people are no longer on supervision, providing some much-needed relief for overworked probation and parole officers. Caseloads have dropped from roughly 150 per officer, to 120.
There’s plenty left for Louisiana to do in order to improve its criminal justice system. But these new numbers show the effort is working beyond its original goals. That’s something to celebrate.
