I completely forgot to post this Sunday (and the rest of the week). Check this out!

"For more than two decades, blue-ribbon commissions have debated the framework of a penal system that has made Louisiana the world leader in incarceration. Lawyers, jurists, sheriffs and other experts have produced myriad analyses and policy recommendations, usually to no avail as tough-on-crime legislators, prosecutors and judges increased penalties and made parole harder to get.

But with increasingly tight state operating budgets putting a sharper focus on the number of Louisianians who are locked up -- currently 40,000 of them, at a cost of $663 million annually, without much evidence that it has led to a corresponding drop in crime -- the Louisiana Legislature this year approved several policy changes that in previous years probably would have gotten nowhere.

However, with the new provisions aimed only at nonviolent offenders, and none of the new measures expressly requiring leniency, the question is whether the alterations portend a fundamental policy shift or simply mark incremental steps.


For the first time, certain inmates sentenced to life without parole -- nonviolent offenders who drew their sentences under Louisiana's defunct "three strikes and you're out" law -- will be eligible for release. Other lifers, along with some second-time offenders, will be eligible for parole more quickly than under their original sentences.

In addition, two new judicial districts will operate "re-entry courts" aimed at helping released prisoners get job training and otherwise prepare to return to productive citizenship. Prosecutors and judges also will have new discretion to sidestep minimum penalty requirements in existing criminal statutes.

Besides being limited to those convicted of nonviolent crimes, and excluding all those found guilty of sex crimes, the new policies come with other conditions, including that inmates have displayed good behavior behind bars.

Paroles, meanwhile, will be decided by a newly created seven-person committee comprising the existing Pardon Board and two new appointees, yet to be named by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The old parole board will cease operations."

Louisiana Legislature takes steps toward reducing incarceration for nonviolent crimes | NOLA.com

That's awesome =) very good news for lifers in Louisiana!

I've seen people elsewhere saying how great this is and how Texas should take note, but actually Texas already does much of what Louisiana is proposing - on paper at least.

Still a step in the right direction though.

Nonononono! No other state should *ever* follow Louisiana's "lead" on any law! We are the only state where the judges rule the land! Here, judges interpret the law however they want to. In other states judges actually have to follow precedent. Our laws are not based on English law like everywhere else. We're stuck in the way-back machine. No! If anyone should be the follower it should be Louisiana.

They're only doing this to save money. They're already in the process of shutting one state prison so they needed to figure out a way to reduce the prison population. Since they won't rewrite the draconian sentencing laws, they've opted for this. Better than nothing, I suppose.

Louisiana law is, I believe, based loosely on French law.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Originally Posted by sunray's wench

Louisiana law is, I believe, based loosely on French law.

And that's all I have to say about that.

France is OK.

Yeah hum French laws seems more appropriate in general than many US laws...

Louisiana law is based loosely on the Spanish and Napoleonic Codes, but moreso on Roman law.

I wish they would do something like this for violent crimes, not just nonviolent ones. in many cases id rather a "a big bad murderer" be let out who has proven that he has changed, than someone who was a drug dealer who will prob go back to doing the same crap.

Originally Posted by FreakLikeMe

I wish they would do something like this for violent crimes, not just nonviolent ones. in many cases id rather a "a big bad murderer" be let out who has proven that he has changed, than someone who was a drug dealer who will prob go back to doing the same crap.

I agree, I'm not sure why violent crimes are seen differently in terms of rehabilitation, I'd actually trust someone more who murdered on a stupid impulse and regrets it than someone with a history of thievery. Not that people with minor crimes can't reintegrate into society, because of course they can, but I tend to think it's perhaps harder since the repercussions, legally and morally are much less severe. Most people don't want to do a repeat of a murder, but I sometimes think it's easy to forget where the line is on things like stealing, especially for kids and teenagers.