PJI Statement on 2024 Special Session on Crime

Today, the special legislative session on crime begins at the state capitol in Baton Rouge.  

For the next couple of weeks, the 105 representatives and 39 senators we elected last Fall will consider a group of bills that would bring sweeping change to Louisiana’s criminal legal system and incarceration. Together, these proposals are an attack on the most comprehensive criminal legal reforms in Louisiana’s history, passed in 2017 through the bipartisan Justice Reinvestment Initiative (“JRI”). These policy changes spurred a rapid decrease in Louisiana’s jail and prison population, allowing us to shed the unfortunate title of “incarceration capital of the world.” And as incarceration rates fell, so did crime rates, showing that we can make our communities safer while incarcerating fewer people. 

Even experts at the conservative Pelican Institute agree that the JRI reforms have been a success, saving the state over $100 million and allowing us to reinvest in programs that help victims of crimes and support reentry for people leaving prison. 

The proposed bills are dangerous, disingenuous, and extremely expensive. They nearly eliminate post-conviction relief, lower the age to criminally charge children as adults, and cripple parole and public defender offices. Notably, many of these bills would protect bad legal actors who perpetuate Louisiana’s rampant prosecutorial misconduct problem and eliminate pathways for innocent people in prison to gain freedom.  

With the reintroduction of several barbaric methods of executions, PJI is headed to the capitol to fight against this effort to return to much darker times. House Bill 6 (HB6) proposes to add the electric chair, gas suffocation, and lethal injection using a secret process to hide what poisons are being used to kill people on death row.   

PJI will also spend the session standing up for victims of crime and against proposals to defund JRI. The Crime Victims Reparations (CVR) Fund is the only statewide program where victims of violence and homicide victims’ families can apply for direct financial support following a crime. But this resource is not supported by any general fund or tax dollars, so the savings achieved through JRI have helped keep the program going. If JRI loses funding, this critical support disappears. Supporting victims of crime as part of public safety means that the governor, legislators, and prosecutors should fully fund JRI and the Crime Victims Reparations Fund.

These bills make Louisianan’s less safe, and harm vulnerable people in the criminal legal system, their loved ones, and our communities.  PJI, along with a diverse group of partner organizations and supporters like you, are standing up to keep Louisiana on the path of increasing public safety and reducing incarceration rates. We need your help to protect the progress Louisiana has made and prevent more harm caused by bad policies.  

ACT NOW: Please join us in signing this letter to the Governor and legislators asking them to reject HB6.  

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