BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s Republican legislature approved a constitutional amendment Friday that would allow it to increase the number of crimes for which juveniles between the ages of 14 and 16 could be tried as adults.

The state constitution currently defines 15 violent crimes against juveniles, such as rape, murder and armed robbery, that prosecutors can try in adult courts. Any changes to this list of crimes must be approved by voters.

But the constitutional amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. Heather Cloud — which requires voter approval in the March 29 election to take effect — would give lawmakers the power, by a two-thirds majority vote, to decide which crimes Juveniles can be transferred to adult courts.

It’s part of a broader push in Louisiana, which already has the nation’s second-highest incarceration rate behind Mississippi, to implement tough-on-crime policies under Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Since taking office in January, Landry has passed laws to treat 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system, largely eliminate parole and allow surgical castration as punishment for certain sex crimes against children.

Supporters of the measure to make it easier to extend prosecutions of juveniles into adulthood — supported only by Republican lawmakers — say it will grant lawmakers more flexibility to give prosecutors the tools they need to increase public safety. Granting authority to the Constitution “has prevented Louisiana from responding to changes in an ever-changing juvenile crime landscape,” Cloud said on the Senate floor Nov. 14.

Opponents, including Democrats, social workers and supporters of criminal justice reform, said specific offenses sending juveniles to adult courts should remain enshrined in the constitution to keep that power in the hands of voters.

“We are suppressing the voice of the people on how children should be treated in this state,” Democratic Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews said.

Critics also say the changes fail to address the root causes of juvenile delinquency, namely poverty and underinvestment in education. Transferring juveniles to adult court would also prevent them from accessing age-appropriate rehabilitation services, criminal justice reform advocates and social workers testified during the legislative session.

“I can’t see this as anything other than just abandoning the children,” Democratic Sen. Royce Duplessis said on the Senate floor. “We’re going to say we’re just going to treat them all like adults, and we’re not going to do our part as a society, as policymakers, to fix what’s really failing — that’s not going to do anything.” something to deter crime.

Some lawmakers said juveniles who committed violent crimes were denied care at an early age and were past the point of rehabilitation, blaming their families rather than societal factors.

“Some of these children are already lost when they are 2 years old,” Republican Rep. Tony Bacala said during a House committee hearing.

Unless transferred to adult court, youth tried in juvenile court can only be imprisoned until they turn 21, according to state law.

The effect of the proposed constitutional change will be to open the door for Republican lawmakers to give prosecutors the power to impose long prison sentences on youth ages 14 to 16, including for less serious crimes, Bruce Reilly said , deputy director of the Louisiana-based criminal justice reform advocacy group Voice of the Experienced.

The Louisiana District Attorneys Association and the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association said they supported the measure.

But New Orleans Sheriff Susan Hutson said she feared the measure would “almost certainly put a strain on our already depleted staff” in the jail system. Federal law still considers youth 17 and younger to be juveniles and requires them to be separated from adult inmates.

District Attorney Tony Clayton, who represents West Baton Rouge and two other parishes, said he would not try a juvenile as an adult for having “marijuana in his wallet” but for violent crimes.

Violent crime is down nationwide, according to the latest data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting. Since mid-2023, most violent crime has also declined in New Orleans, which in 2022 had the highest homicide rate among the nation’s major cities.

Conservative lawmakers argued that was the result of tough crime penalties passed this year and Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s decision to send state troops to New Orleans.

Lawmakers supporting the amendment focused on high-profile violent crimes committed by juveniles, such as the deadly New Orleans carjacking case committed by teenagers — who were charged as adults — in which a woman elderly woman was beaten and dragged to her death.

Louisiana is one of five states that classifies 17-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

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