This blog post was written by Jace Waechter, a Right on Crime research assistant.
Last Thursday, a task force designed to look at ways to improve public safety and save taxpayer’s money held a hearing at the Louisiana Capitol. The Justice Reinvestment Task Force—a body made up of members from both political parties, together with business and religious leaders—has held multiple hearings to look at ways to increase public safety, while decreasing the amount of individuals locked up in Louisiana’s prisons.
During the hearing, members of the Pew Charitable Trust’s Public Safety Performance Project team gave presentations looking in-depth into the drivers of the prison population to determine where lawmakers could make smart reforms. Public testimony was also taken. According to an article from The Advocate, Pete Adams, the executive director of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, recommended that to ensure positive and lasting results, most of the savings realized because of reforms should be reinvested into probation services, alternative forms of punishment, and services designed to cut down on crime, while reducing the prison population.
At the end of the meeting, the task force set a plan on having these recommendations boiled down in a raft of bills for the 2017 legislative session.