Project for Opportunity and Safety

Editorial: Put 17-year-olds in juvenile justice system

It’s time to protect our children and give them the best chance to turn their lives around.

We urge state legislators to support SB 324, a bill proposed by Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, that would effectively raise the age from 17 to 18 for those automatically prosecuted as an adult. The bill is pending final House passage set for June 2.

Louisiana is one of only nine states in the country that prosecutes 17-year-olds as adults, regardless of the crime they commit.

Stephen Philippi, LSU’s Institute for Public Health and Justice director, said most of the crimes committed by the 6,000 teens arrested in 2014 were non-violent offenses.

Yet the permanent record for these juveniles creates obstacles for a lifetime.

Teens with an adult criminal record have a harder time finding jobs and apartments and may also be denied higher education opportunities, according to a 2011 Youth Justice Report.

The same report showed children housed in adult facilities are also at much higher risk of experiencing sexual abuse and beatings and are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their counterparts housed in juvenile facilities.

Data also shows most teenagers sentenced to adult facilities will be back in their communities within 10 years.

Bottom line: Most youthful offenders will be returning to their neighborhoods.

Keeping these offenders in the juvenile justice system, which is better equipped to handle 17-year-olds, ensures they return without sustaining additional and significant further traumas.

Also, raising the age doesn’t strip prosecutors of their power to prosecute a 17-year-old as an adult for a violent crime. They retain that option.

Raising the age by one year would also create substantial savings for the state’s agencies that work with youth. LSU’s Institute for Public Health anticipates $20M in savings for handling juveniles in adult jails.

If you’ve been following the series on human trafficking written by Times reporter Lex Talamo, you will see how young people are exploited and abused, and end up with criminal records for crimes in situations into which they have been forced.

Help save just a few more young lives from a life of crime. Offenders will still be held accountable.

Help them have a chance to be managed in the juvenile justice system where they belong.

Join us in encouraging lawmakers to support SB324.