In the 1990s, an academic named John Dilulio published an article describing the “superpredator.” He explained that a “moral poverty” in U.S. cities would result in a flood of 30,000 murderous teenagers, born criminals lacking in empathy or restraint. This gave a name to an existing societal fear of Black children. Today, with new laws passed to treat more kids like adults, more prisons being built to house them, and with harmful amendments being put on the ballot for voters, we can see a new pattern emerging laying the groundwork for another boom in mass incarceration.  

Louisiana’s Office of Juvenile Justice recently banned at-home holiday visits for incarcerated youth. This will keep children from visiting home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, and other major holidays.

With the recent deaths of French Quarter tour guide Kristie Thibodeaux and 15-year-old Jvoine Elow Jr., New Orleans’ juvenile electronic monitoring program is facing unprecedented scrutiny given its small size. The city is proposing an additional $2 million dollars in spending to expand the program from its current level of ~20 kids to 200, and […]

In Orleans Parish, the eligibility criteria for juvenile Electronic Monitoring (EM) clearly requires a child to have a RAI score of 10-11. Unclear, however, is how these scores are calculated and what they mean for public safety.   But what is an RAI? Risk Assessment Instruments are tools used to assess a defendant’s risk to themselves […]

With the intense controversy and scrutiny over electronic monitoring in New Orleans, we at LCCR decided to investigate ankle monitors, how and why they are used in the juvenile legal system, and how electronic monitoring affects our kids. In this series of three articles, we will: explore EM’s benefits and limitations, examine the role Risk Assessment Instruments play in EM participation, and review EM’s current usage and controversy in New Orleans. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools around the country to close in March 2020, children incarcerated in secure care facilities in Louisiana were left without any educational services for months. Many of LCCR’s clients were affected by this crisis, and they experienced significant learning loss and isolation as a result of educational gaps.  Students with […]