CADDO PARISH, La. ( KTAL/KMSS )—In March, Louisiana voters rejected an amendment that would allow fifteen-year-olds to be prosecuted as adults. However, the voters’ will was not enough to stop the Louisiana Legislature from advancing a bill that would do precisely what was overwhelmingly voted against.
If passed, the bill would prosecute felony offenses committed by juveniles 15 and over in district court. Juvenile felony offenses committed by youth under 15 or misdemeanor offenses would still be presided over by juvenile courts. Under current law, district attorneys have jurisdiction over which offenders should be transferred to adult court and which the juvenile system believes can be restored, which is the stated purpose of the juvenile justice system.
Louisiana bills promise tax break for oil companies
“The bill deletes our Caddo Parish Juvenile Court as having exclusive jurisdiction of juvenile matters. This legislation, if passed, authored with no explanation by the filer, a local legislator, is the effective beginning of the end of our Caddo Parish Juvenile Court,” Stewart said in a statement.
Stewart highlighted the Parish’s long history of “strong and effective juvenile court in Caddo Parish.” In his writing, the district attorney highlights that the cases he transfers to adult cour t for adult prosecution are not done so because he is dissatisfied with juvenile court judges, but because the juvenile defendant committed crimes for which the maximum juvenile sentence to age 21 is insufficient…