The Louisiana Legislature is advancing a package of bills that would drastically roll back criminal justice reforms in a state known until recently for having the highest incarceration rate in the country and the second-highest number of wrongful convictions.
Among the proposals moving through the Republican-controlled chambers are bills that would allow 17-year-olds to be charged as adults, unseal some juvenile criminal records, significantly reduce parole eligibility and "good time" credits inmates can earn toward early release, and limit post-conviction appeals. Other measures would expand the state's methods of performing executions to include nitrogen gas and electrocution while making the state's capital punishment process off-limits to public records requests.
