After an almost one-year delay of the Louisiana bill that raises the age of criminal responsibility to 18, the first stage of the landmark law goes into effect Friday, but not without some apprehension across the state.
In this first phase of the Raise the Age law, the state will no longer automatically arrest, detain and prosecute 17-year-olds as adults when the teens are accused of nonviolent crimes. That change, advocates hope, will better rehabilitate youth, but many officials worry how it will affect an already underfunded and, often, outdated juvenile justice system.
“There’s no data, there’s no numbers out there that say what this is going to look like," said James Bueche, the deputy secretary of the state Office of Juvenile Justice. "I am concerned. … (But) we'll make it work. We have to make it work."
[For more on this story by GRACE TOOHEY, go to https://www.theadvocate.com/ba...95-ff075cb95d3d.html]
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