Louisiana set to reverse ‘Raise the Age’ act

Rick Gogreve
·2 min read
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WGNO) — Back in 2016, the Louisiana Legislature passed the Raise the Age act to send 17-year-old criminal defendants from the adult justice system into the juvenile justice system; but now it’s being reversed.

Some experts say that this decision may not have as major affect when it comes to youth violence, though.

“It’s really negligible for the violent offenders because they’re being transferred to adult court now as a 17-year-old or as an 18-year-old,” New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche said.

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Goyeneche said where he does see a potential effect is with 17-year-old, non-violent first offenders.

However, it will be more of a positive effect than a negative one because he believes the adult diversion programs are better capable of preventing recidivism than the juvenile programs.

“They’re not going to be felonized with a conviction in most instances. They’re going to be offered treatment and probation through a diversion program that will not require them to be adjudicated or plead guilty,” Goyeneche said.

However, some of those who oppose the new bill say the adult rehabilitation process is not built for people of that age and it is more likely to cause harm than good.

“Those probation officers are going to be unfamiliar the job training programs that accept people under the age of 18. The majority of their clients are going to be adults, so they’re more familiar with services for adults,” Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights Legal Director Aaron Clark-Rizzio said.

Clark-Rizzio says lines must be drawn somewhere in the end.

“We have clearly decided as a community that there is a difference between 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds, and I think it is really cynical and wrong that in this one instance we’re magically deciding that a 17-year-old becomes an adult.”

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