Louisiana
Louisiana task force takes aim at how state handles child sex abuse cases
BATON ROUGE, La. (KALB) – A newly created Louisiana task force targeting how Louisiana handles cases of child sexual abuse convened on Oct. 22, to find potential shortcomings within judicial and departmental operations.
The task force‘s hearing, chaired by Louisiana State Senator Regina Barrow, featured testimony from Kathleen Richey, Louisiana’s Child Ombudsman; a position with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor created with SB137, a bill authored by Senator Barrow in 2023.
According to Barrow, she chose to create the task force following a phone call she received from a constituent describing a case of child sexual abuse which ended with the accused abuser still having access to the alleged victim.
“Someone called me about a sexual abuse situation where the abuser was still able to get to the child,” recalled Barrow. “I asked her how does this happen, and why is it happening, and she said there are many aspects to this, and it’s not easy to figure out, it’s very complex. This is something we really need to take a look at.”
During her testimony, Kathleen Richey highlighted a statistic from her office, stating it‘s received almost 250 complaints in three weeks, with more than 10% of the complaints involving child sexual abuse.
According to the task force, the most immediate issues impacting the future safety of affected children are the cross-functional communications and processes between departments and courts, the lack of standardized training for chilld sexual abuse interviews and the absence of a written protocol for such investigations under the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and law enforcement.
Task force member and Lafourche Parish District Attorney Kristine Russell emphasized the importance of Multi-Disciplinary Team Meetings (MDTs): monthly intra-communications between law enforcement, DCFS, district attorney offices, and advocacy centers. According to Russell, the purpose of MDTs are to ensure the services and support a child receives are sufficient and to ”force communication” between the agencies.
“The number one issue that we’re talking about right now is a lack of communication between agencies and so MDT meetings force communication and in the end result everybody has better cases”
While discussing the interview processes, Richey highlighted a portion of her investigation on interview training, citing that DCFS does not have training specifically for interviewers handling cases of child sexual abuse. She further states that while training is available through advocacy centers and forensic interviews, interviewers “often don’t participate.”
“We have met with an intake interviewer, a worker with DCFS, and in the course of that interview we just did some play-acting and I said, ‘Okay, I‘m a grandma and I’m worried…that somebody is messing with my grandchild’ and, y’know, what do you ask me? There was a lot that I could’ve told them if they only asked, but they didn’t ask,” Richey explained.
Her suggested solution to the task force would be to develop a written code of protocol and provide accessible training to DCFS specifically for interviewers handling child sex abuse investigations.
“We also discovered there’s no training specific for child sexual abuse for an interviewer, and so we are working with the department [DCFS] to identify appropriate training
“Centralized intake has a protocol for a child fatality, they have a protocol for drug-exposed newborns, and a protocol for trafficking. There is no specific protocol for the extent of the interview for the report of a child sexual abuse.
The task force is set to reconvene on November 13 to potentially create new policy and/or legislative recommendations for 2025.
Click here to report a typo. Please provide the title of the article in your email.
Copyright 2024 KALB. All rights reserved.
Louisiana
Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.
A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.
Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.
In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.
“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.
Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.
In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.
But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.
Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.
“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.
In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”
Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
The organizat…
Already an INSIDER? Sign in.
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.
The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).
Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.
Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”
According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.
The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.
You can now stream KTAL 6 and KMSS 33 News live, plus original content 24/7 on your smart TV with KTAL Now, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite needed—watch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming.
-
New York1 hour agoTrump’s Immigration Crackdown Pervades Long Island Suburbs
-
Detroit, MI2 hours agoChris Simms projects Detroit Lions first-round NFL draft pick
-
San Francisco, CA2 hours agoSan Francisco sets $3.4B price tag for public takeover of PG&E
-
Dallas, TX2 hours agoGame Day Guide: Stars at Wild | Dallas Stars
-
Miami, FL2 hours agoMay a steadying presence as Cards hold off Marlins in Miami
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoTyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe flex in Boston: Takeaways from Celtics-76ers Game 2
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoMotorcyclist seriously injured in Denver hit-and-run crash – AOL
-
Seattle, WA3 hours agoBrock: 2 drafts fits at edge rusher for Seattle Seahawks