The Louisiana Legislature's special crime session begins today. The goal for lawmakers is to reduce crime in the state, an issue Governor Jeff Landry made a cornerstone of his campaign.
However, one analyst believes the bills up for consideration will not achieve that goal.
"If we go upon what has been done in other states and what the criminal justice experts and community tell us, this special session on crime is more about incarceration than it is about crime reduction," University of Louisiana political science professor Joshua Stockley told WWL's Dave Cohen. "Just because you lock individuals up longer does not mean that you're actually going to reduce the total incidents of crime in a community."
According to Stockley, decades of studies show that longer minimum mandatory sentences for violent crimes and limitations on parole eligibility have no effect on crime trends. Stockley added that the effort to expand the death penalty in Louisiana won't do anything to drive down crime numbers.
"Capital punishment has long been shown not to be a crime deterrent," Stockley said. "These are impulsive, often domestic violence actions. Nobody's thinking about, 'Oh, I better not do this now because I'm going to get 25 years instead of 20,' or, 'They're going to electrocute me as opposed to less painful methods.' Capital punishment has no effect on incidence of crime."
Stockley notes that these laws are an attempt by lawmakers and Governor Jeff Landry to appease voters who want them to do something about crime.
"I would say he's definitely appealing to the base, and let's not forget, I think he's sticking it a little to our previous governor," Stockley said. "He's really trying to unravel much of Governor (John Bel) Edwards's justice reinvestment initiative and trying to put his own stamp on the state of Louisiana."
Stockley warns that if these laws are passed, Louisiana's voters could feel a sense of buyer's remorse.
"I just don't see a special session on crime. I see a special session on incarceration," Stockley said. "We're wanting to lock up more individuals for longer periods of time. There's no hard data to suggest that I'm going to be a safer individual because of this, and my fear is taxpayers are going to be on the hooks for millions more of dollars just keeping people locked up."
Stockley says if lawmakers want to reduce crime in Louisiana, they need to look for solutions outside of the tough-on-crime stance pitched by Landry.
"How do we transform these individuals, and how do we transform communities?" Stockley asked. "In and of themselves, it's not just tougher sentences. If we want to reduce crime, let's spend our dollars doing other initiatives and other things. They may not be as politically sexy or attractive. They may not fall into a neat little two or three bullet points, but there are strategies that do reduce crime. In and of themselves, longer sentences and reducing parole eligibility are not necessarily in and of themselves the answer."
