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| House approves new juvenile offender agency |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/19/2004 |
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The Louisiana House approved the creation last Thursday of a new agency to deal with youthful offenders, part of a reform of Louisiana's juvenile justice that began last year. The reform's aim is to strip the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections of authority over teenage criminals, following widely publicized mistreatment scandals at youth prisons during the 1990s. One of those prisons, Tallulah, was the subject of federal investigations, and is to be closed. Last Thursday's action creates the office of youth services to oversee the incarceration and rehabilitation of young criminals. Disappointing to some critics, the new office stays in the Corrections Department, though Gov. Kathleen Blanco's administration has issued assurances that it will be autonomous. Its chief will be appointed directly by the governor. It will also likely cost some $3.2 million and require 40 new employees. Those figures disturbed one of the legislature's leading fiscal conservatives, Rep. Emile "Peppi" Bruneau, R-New Orleans, who added a provision to the new law specifying that existing resources be used as much possible in creating the new agency. The bill is HB 1276. |
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