HLS 15RS-994 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 73
BY REPRESENTATIVE LEGER
JUVENILE PROCEDURE: Requests the Institute on Public Health and Justice to study the
issue of raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include seventeen-year olds
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Institute of Public Health and Justice to study the current state of the
3 juvenile justice and criminal justice systems to understand the potential impact of
4 raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction to include seventeen-year olds.
5 WHEREAS, in recent decades, our understanding of adolescent brain development
6has greatly increased and behavioral studies have shown that youth are simply and
7significantly different from adults; and
8 WHEREAS, behavioral science has shown that because of the biological properties
9of adolescent brains, when compared to adults, seventeen-year olds are more prone to risky
10and impulsive behavior, less able to engage in moral reasoning or regulate their emotions,
11less able to consider long term consequences of their actions, and more prone to the effects
12and stress of peer pressure; and
13 WHEREAS, with recent decisions issued in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005),
14Graham v. Florida, 130 S.Ct. 2011 (2010), and Miller v. Alabama, 132 S.Ct. 2455 (2012),
15the United States Supreme Court has recognized and relied upon this emerging adolescent
16brain development research and has ruled that youth are fundamentally different from adults
17and, therefore, warrant developmentally responsive treatment; and
18 WHEREAS, Louisiana has recognized that an effective criminal justice system
19should be based on public safety, accountability, and rehabilitation; and
20 WHEREAS, with the highest incarceration rate and the rising costs of incarceration,
21Louisiana, which has always emphasized the importance of public safety and accountability,
22has only just begun to focus on rehabilitation; and
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1 WHEREAS, it is important to allow these youth a true opportunity to mature, learn,
2and rehabilitate themselves and transition into productive adults; and
3 WHEREAS, results from studies conducted by a Centers for Disease Control Task
4Force in 2007 and the United States Department of Justice in 2010 suggest youth who have
5been sent through the adult criminal justice system are more likely to recidivate than similar
6youth who remain in the juvenile justice system; and
7 WHEREAS, in another study conducted by the United States Department of Justice
8in 2011, results demonstrated that youth achieve major benefits from being sent through the
9juvenile court and juvenile facilities instead of being housed in adult facilities, which are
10often not equipped to deal with youth and place the youth in situations that are dangerous
11to them, or in isolation which can exacerbate or cause mental health problems; and
12 WHEREAS, the number of states that treat a seventeen-year old as an adult for
13purposes of determining criminal culpability is dwindling and there is a trend toward making
14eighteen years the default age of adult criminal responsibility; and
15 WHEREAS, Louisiana is only one of nine states left in the United States that
16automatically transfers a seventeen-year old in the criminal justice system to be tried as an
17adult.
18 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
19urge and request the Institute of Public Health and Justice to study the current state of the
20juvenile justice and criminal justice systems to understand the potential impact of raising the
21age of juvenile jurisdiction to include seventeen-year olds.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting this study, the Institute of Public
23Health and Justice may work with and receive information from the key stakeholders in both
24the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems including but not limited to representatives
25from the following entities:
26 (1) Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of juvenile justice.
27 (2) Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
28 (3) The Department of Health and Hospitals, office of behavioral health.
29 (4) Department of Children and Family Services.
30 (5) Louisiana District Attorneys Association.
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1 (6) Louisiana State Public Defender Board.
2 (7) Louisiana Sheriff's Association.
3 (8) Louisiana District Judges Association.
4 (9) Louisiana Center for Children's Rights.
5 (10) The Southern Poverty Law Center.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting this study, the Institute of Public
7Health and Justice should also evaluate the current criminal justice and juvenile justice
8systems to better understand seventeen-year olds currently within the criminal justice
9system, to examine the capacity of law enforcement, the courts, and the office of juvenile
10justice to manage these youth; and the needs these youth may bring to the juvenile justice
11system with regard to rehabilitation.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this report shall be provided to the House
13Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice, the Senate Committees on Judiciary
14A, Judiciary B, and Judiciary C, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the
15president of the Senate by February 1, 2016.
16 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
17to the Institute of Public Health and Justice.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 73 Original 2015 Regular Session Leger
Requests the Institute of Public Health and Justice to study the current state of the juvenile
justice and criminal justice systems to understand the potential impact of raising the age of
juvenile jurisdiction to include 17-year olds.
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