The 2019 Louisiana Survey shows 70% of Louisianans support the criminal justice reforms championed by Governor Edwards and approved in 2016.
“That number has come up from 61 percent the year before, and most of that growth and support has come from Republicans and Independents,” said LSU Public Policy Research Lab Director, Doctor Michael Henderson.
The reforms were aimed at reducing the prison population by reducing sentences and providing non-prison alternatives for non-violent offenders.
60 percent of Republicans now support the reform efforts. in 2018 only 46 percent of Republicans backed the changes, and Henderson says it’s taken a few years for the average GOP voter to buy in.
“The rank and file Republicans and grass roots Republicans are falling in line with where much of the Republican leadership was when it was being passed two years ago.”
79 percent of Democrats support the reforms, up five percent from last year, and 74 percent of Independents are on board, a 12 percent increase over 2018.
But the survey did reveal that despite the reform effort, most Louisianans are not happy about the state of the criminal justice system in Louisiana.
Henderson says only a third of respondents thought the system was fair, and only a third thought it kept them safe.
“Republicans are a little more critical on the keeping us safe side, and Democrats are a little more critical on the is it fair side, so there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the status of the criminal justice system today.”
65 percent of those polled say “mandatory minimum sentencing” should be eased so that judges have the flexibility to determine sentences on a case by case basis.
You can find this report, and the previous four at http://pprllsu.com/projects/
