Survivor Informed Taskforce submits Final Report and Recommendations to the Louisiana Legislature
The Survivor Informed Taskforce (SITF) published their final report with recommendations to the Louisiana Legislature in early February. The report detailed research on issues for criminalized survivors of violence, which includes people who have survived interpersonal and sexual violence and have been punished for defending themselves against abusers or being coerced into a crime.
The SITF was created as a result of Senate Concurrent Resolution 45 (SCR 45), authored by Sen. Patrick McMath, during the 2021 Legislative Session and was directed to “study the link between trauma, abuse, and subsequent incarceration, including secondary survivors of domestic or intimate partner violence, and to make recommendations to the legislature.”
The task force included directly impacted survivors, prosecutors, staff from the Department of Corrections, representatives from the Public Defender Board, Louisiana Supreme Court, the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, the Sheriff’s Association, Governor’s Office, advocates and the co-founder of the Women’s Prison Project. The report made recommendations on subject areas such as the “current scope of incarcerated trauma and abuse survivors in prisons, jails, and juvenile detention centers in Louisiana,” and “Current procedures utilized by law enforcement, district attorneys, public defenders, and criminal court judges to screen for trauma and abuse.”
“We’re hopeful that the SITF report will pave the way for more survivor led criminal justice reform,” said Katie Hunter-Lowrey, PJI’s Co-Lead Organizer, Crime Survivor Organizer and Policy Advocate. “This research makes clear that there is no such thing as a victim-offender binary and that the impacts of violence are not being addressed by our current system. We hope that the Louisiana Legislature considers and implements the recommendations in the SITF report, which would move the needle away from punishment and towards support to create a safer Louisiana for us all.”