States for Change

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state that is emphatically moving in the right direction. With juvenile justice reform a top priority for the state’s political leadership, Louisiana is rethinking and restructuring its system from top to bottom, and has already managed a significant shift in emphasis from a primarily correctional orientation to one centered on the treatment and rehabilitation of youth. It has dramatically reduced its traditional reliance on secure incarceration of juveniles in state-run facilities. And it has emerged from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita with a new sense of urgency and a willingness to innovate that has created the potential for significant and lasting reform.

Models for Change-supported reform efforts in Louisiana will focus primarily on bringing about change in three areas: expanding alternatives to formal processing and incarceration; increasing access to evidence-based services; and reducing disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system.

For a detailed overview of the work plan for the Louisiana Models for Change initiative, click here. A current profile of the juvenile justice system in Louisiana is available here. For a Models for Change background summary concerning the Louisiana juvenile justice system, click here. For juvenile justice background from selected parishes, click here.

The Models for Change work in Louisiana is being coordinated by the Louisiana Board of Regents.

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