Adults recruiting juveniles to commit carjackings would be illegal under legislation approved unanimously by the Louisiana House. The bill’s author, New Orleans Representative Jason Hughes says he wants to hold adults accountable for a crime that’s creating fear in the city he loves.
“In Orleans Parish, we have a crisis of epic proportions dealing with carjackings where citizens are literally frightened to leave their homes and pump gas within the confines of our parish,” said Hughes.
The proposed law says violators would face sentencing between five and 20 years. But Gretna Representative Joe Marino says the recruitment of juveniles to commit carjackings is already illegal.
“If you aid and abet in committing of a crime, you can be charged with the crime itself, you don’t have to have a different crime in order to do that,” said Hughes.
New Orleans Representative Aimee Freeman expressed her support for the measure, calling it a serious problem for her city.
“It breaks my heart every time I get a call, sometimes they happen at eight in the morning when someone is putting their child in the car, or two o’clock in the afternoon when they are dropping off a child or putting a grand child in the car,” said Freeman.
The measure now heads to the Senate for more discussion.
Comments