Will Sutton: Focus on Louisiana “tax reform” while lawmakers aim to jail 14-year-olds

If things go according to conservative lawmakers’ plan, Louisiana children will be tried as adults and sent to adult prisons more often in the future, because the Legislature could increase the number of crimes for which minors can be prosecuted as adults. 

Oh, you thought Gov. Jeff Landry’s third special legislative session was all about tax reform?

You’re not wrong. Taxation is the main focus. But it’s not the only agenda item.

Even as lawmakers see crime decline across Louisiana, many still preach the myth that sending more children to adult facilities makes us all safer. It allows them to campaign on “lock ’em up” and “tough on crime” platforms.

State Sens. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, and Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, and state Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, quietly secured legislative approval of a proposed constitutional amendment toward that end in the just-ended special session. They were able to do it because most Louisianans remained focused on Gov. Jeff Landry’s efforts to reduce personal income taxes on the rich while raising Louisiana’s combined sales tax rate to the highest in the nation.

All the noise about tax reform provided the perfect cover for Cloud, Morris and Villio to find new ways to punish our youth. Their Senate Bill 2 glided through the legislative process without so much as a minor headwind.

Truth be told, Landry was right to call his third special session this year to push his tax reform ideas.

For far too long we haven’t had serious legislative debates about how best to raise Louisiana from near the bottom among states where businesses want to relocate and bring good jobs. The problem with focusing solely on tax reform is that businesses consider more than just taxation when they locate or expand. They also consider housing quality, employee-friendly laws and practices, quality K-12 and higher education, public safety and other quality-of-life factors.

Fortunately, overall crime has been declining in Louisiana.

That apparently means little to politicians who want to make crime more than a party-line talking point. Some simply want to put more people, especially minors, behind bars. The proposed constitutional amendment, if approved by voters, would allow lawmakers to treat 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds as adults without asking citizens if that’s what they want.

Our state constitution already allows lawmakers to authorize — by a two-thirds vote in each chamber — special juvenile procedures for minors charged with specific offenses:

• First- or second-degree murder
• Manslaughter
• Aggravated rape
• Armed robbery
• Aggravated burglary
• Aggravated kidnapping
• Attempted first-degree murder
• Attempted second-degree murder
• Forcible rape
• Simple rape
• Second-degree kidnapping.
• A second or subsequent aggravated battery
• A second or subsequent aggravated burglary
• A second or subsequent offense of burglary of an inhabited dwelling
• A second or subsequent felony-grade violation of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law or prohibited transactions in drug-related objects, involving the manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances.

If approved by voters, SB2’s proposed constitutional amendment would eliminate that list and let lawmakers alone — by a two-thirds vote, without voters’ consent — decide which crimes should be “adult” offenses for minors

Imagine the Legislature deciding that a 14-year-old should be tried as an adult because he stole from a store or got into a fight at school. SB2 proponents say some children can’t be rehabilitated. Sigh.

Fortunately, voters will get to decide whether such scared-straight tactics make sense — or will actually attract more businesses to Louisiana. Do SB2’s sponsors really think businesses will come here because we incarcerate more youth? Shouldn’t we instead promote early childhood education and care, healthy living and higher literacy rates?

The governor, the Louisiana District Attorneys Association and the Louisiana Sheriffs Association have endorsed SB2. But not everyone agrees with them. 

“Senate Bill 2 is unnecessary and has the potential to end juvenile justice in Louisiana,” Laramie Griffin, founder of Evolve Louisiana, shared with me. “This bill does nothing to improve public safety.” Griffin added that the bill has an “invisible list,” meaning lawmakers could “add whichever law they choose without public vote.”

The proposed amendment will appear on the next statewide ballot, likely in March. A “yes” vote would let lawmakers decide which crimes committed by minors can land them behind bars with adult criminals. A “no” vote would keep the current list and rule in the constitution.

Let’s not wait to get through the holidays, the new year and Carnival to focus on what this means.

Now is the time to launch a “Vote No!” campaign.

Let’s tell the world that we can be business-friendly, socially responsible and compassionate toward children who make mistakes.