A Senate-passed bill proposing risk assessment for juveniles who run afoul of the law clears another legislative hurdle. Central Louisiana Senator Heather Cloud’s SB 323 has already won approval from the full Senate. She tells members of the House Criminal Justice Committee the bill is in response to a big uptick in violence among juvenile offenders.
Cloud says “my bill actually provides for the secure placement of juveniles within the Office of Juvenile Justice by using a tiered system. So we’re moving, with this legislation, to a tiered system.”
Cloud’s bill would require that juveniles arrested and brought into the system be assessed for their tendencies toward violent behavior, and would be housed under a tier system; assessing them from least-dangerous to most-dangerous. Michelle Piazza is a corrections officer at a youth detention center in Bunkie. She tells members of her attack and serious injuring by a violent teen.
“I sustained a tibial plateau fracture; the bottom half of my knee was crushed, and – when I passed out – he continued to kick me and stomp me in the face” said Piazza. She supports a tiered assessment and placement system.
Cloud says evaluating and housing juvenile inmates based on a tiered system will be safer for guards and other detainees. The committee advanced the bill, sending it to the House floor for debate, and what could be final passage.
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