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