Minors in Louisiana could be sent to adult prison for a growing list of crimes
Voters will decide whether to make easier to send teenagers to adult prisons on March 29. (Photo by Julie O'Donoghue/Louisiana Illuminator)
An influential Louisiana lawmaker will push for minors to be sent to adult prison for a slew of new crimes such as fentanyl distribution and robbery without a weapon if voters approve a state constitutional amendment next month.
State Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, is a former prosecutor and one of the most powerful members of the Louisiana Legislature when it comes to criminal justice policy. She is also a close ally of Gov. Jeff Landry and helped him change laws last year to significantly lengthen prison sentences.
This year, Villio hopes to dramatically extend the time behind bars 15- and 16-year-olds could experience if convicted for certain offenses. Should she get her way, minors who are currently guaranteed release at age 21 could see their time behind bars extend until they are into middle age.
Before Villio's proposal can move forward however, voters need to approve a state constitutional amendment in the March 29 election. It would lift the state's restrictions on what crimes can land teens under 17 in adult lockup.
As currently written, the Louisiana Constitution limits the types of offenses for which teenagers under 17 can be sent to adult prison to the state's 14 most serious crimes. They include murder, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery.
If the amendment passes, legislators would be able to add any felony crime to that list with a two-thirds vote of each chamber.
Child advocates oppose the amendment, citing studies and criminal data showing that harsher sentences for minors don't improve public safety or stop them from committing crimes.
Teenagers, whose brains haven't fully developed, don't have the same reasoning ability as adults and don't understand the consequences of criminal behavior, said Mary Livers, who ran the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice for former Gov. Bobby Jindal.
'That's why you have a whole juvenile justice system,' Livers said. 'They don't respond the same way to adult-type expectations.'
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Last year, Villio filed legislation that proposed more crimes for which teens could be punished as adults. It was never brought up for discussion, but the bill provides some indication about the offenses she might include in this year's version.
In an interview this week, Villio said she is still drafting this year's proposal and that some crimes from last year's bill might not be included. For example, her previous legislation would have allowed for 15- and 16-year-olds to be sent to adult prison for heroin distribution or purse snatching. Villio said this week heroin distribution wouldn't be a focus for the new bill. Purse snatching, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, was 'not necessarily on [her] list at this time,' she added.
Fentanyl distribution will be included, she said, though likely only for quantities of 250 grams or more. But if adopted, it would cause one of the most dramatic upswings in sentence lengths for minors.
With an adult sentence for a first-time conviction, a 15- or 16-year-old convicted of distributing these larger amounts of fentanyl could go to adult prison for life with no possibility of release for 25 years. The sentence would be at least five times longer than the maximum incarceration of five years they currently face in the juvenile justice system.
Other offenses on Villio's list include domestic battery with strangulation (3-50 years in prison) and attempted armed robbery (5-50 years). This would increase the maximum sentence a 15-year-old would face to 10 times the six years they can receive now.
In general, Villio will be targeting crimes that could result in 'serious bodily injury,' a legal term that includes everything from a victim temporarily losing consciousness to sustaining a permanent loss of body function or disfigurement. At least two crimes she would seek to add can be carried out without a weapon. Minors as young as 15 can already go to adult prison for an armed robbery, including armed carjacking. Villio would like to add carjacking 'by the use of force or intimidation' – without a weapon. It comes with a sentence range of five to 20 years for one violation, a maximum sentence four times longer than current guidelines for minors. She said she would also include first-degree robbery, during which victims 'reasonably believe' the perpetrator has a weapon, even if the perpetrator isn't armed. The sentence range for this crime would be three to 40 years.
Hector Linares, who oversees the youth justice section of the law clinic at Loyola University College of Law, said robberies are some of the most prevalent offenses that bring children into juvenile court. It makes it likely that many more teenagers could wind up in adult court if Villio's proposal is adopted, he said. 'Prosecuting a child as an adult is actually a very big deal,' Linares said.
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Tony Clayton, district attorney for Iberville, Pointe Coupee and West Baton Rouge parishes, said the threat of additional prison time is necessary to get underage crime under control.
A Black Democrat, Clayton is nevertheless a close ally of Villio and the Republican governor when it comes to pushing for longer criminal sentences, especially for teenagers. He said younger teens are used to sell fentanyl because drug dealers known minors won't face the same penalties people over 17 will.
When asked whether they were concerned about minors facing potentially decades-long prison sentences, both Clayton and Villio said the public needs to trust their elected officials to have good judgment.
Villio's proposal will give district attorneys the discretion to charge 15- and 16-year-olds in either adult or juvenile court for added offenses. The public needs to trust that district attorneys will use their judgement about where youth should be sent, Clayton said. 'DAs need to be compassionate – and they are,' he said.
Villio also said people should have faith in judges to hand an appropriate length of sentence to an underage person. If judges are acting too harshly, voters will have the opportunity to vote them out of office, she said. 'I trust the legal system and I trust judges to sentence appropriately.'
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