老澳门开奖结果

Last month, the Louisiana Supreme Court to review the life sentence of Fair Wayne Bryant, who was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to steal a pair of hedge clippers more than 20 years ago. Bryant鈥檚 sentence was the result of Louisiana鈥檚 extreme 鈥渉abitual offender鈥� law, which allows people to spend life in prison for minor offenses. While the court should have reviewed the sentence, the legislature should abolish this law, and until then, Orleans prosecutors should refuse to seek it.

Habitual offender statutes, known in some states as 鈥渢hree strikes鈥� laws, are a relic of failed 鈥渢ough on crime鈥� policies that have had devastating consequences for families and communities across the country. Both racist and punitive in their nature, these enhancements drive out of control prison populations in states that have some of the highest incarceration rates in the world, Oklahoma and Louisiana among them.

Under these statutes, a person who is convicted of more than one felony crime faces longer and longer sentences for each subsequent conviction 鈥� no matter how minor or how much time has passed since. Not only are these laws racist, they are also ineffective and unnecessary from a public safety perspective. The (64 percent) of people serving time in Louisiana prisons under the law are there for nonviolent crimes, and Black people represent nearly 80 percent of those convicted as habitual offenders.

The sheer cruelty and unfairness of Mr. Bryant鈥檚 sentence is enraging and inexcusable, but it is no anomaly: It is part and parcel of a system designed to perpetuate racial injustice and white supremacy.

Louisiana鈥檚 extreme sentencing law has condemned thousands of Louisianans to life imprisonment for minor offenses, helping make Louisiana the world鈥檚 leading incarcerator. And its longevity is a prime example of how our legal system continues to oppress, brutalize, and imprison Black and Brown people.

In a scathing to the decision, Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Johnson traced the law to the Black codes and 鈥淧ig Laws鈥� during the post-Civil War era, which attempted to re-enslave newly-freed Black people.

鈥淭hese laws remained on the books of most Southern states for decades,鈥� Justice Johnson wrote. 鈥淎nd this case demonstrates their modern manifestation: harsh habitual offender laws that permit a life sentence for a Black man convicted of property crimes.鈥�

Bryant鈥檚 outrageous and unjust sentence is a reminder of the urgent need for state legislators to repeal this extreme sentencing law before it needlessly destroys more people鈥檚 lives. Ballot initiatives like Oklahoma鈥檚 campaign seek to put an end to the destructive power of habitual sentencing enhancements through the electoral process. Fortunately for Louisiana, our district attorneys don鈥檛 have to wait.

Prosecutors 鈥� right now 鈥� have the discretion to stop seeking enhanced penalties under the habitual offender law, and all of us have a responsibility to hold them to it.

There are dozens of district attorneys on the ballot across Louisiana this year 鈥� including in Orleans Parish, where District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is stepping down after 12 years of pushing ineffective 鈥渢ough on crime鈥� policies.

The 老澳门开奖结果 of Louisiana is proud to be among more than 30 organizations in the , which, among other reforms, is calling on Orleans Parish District Attorney candidates to commit to ending all use of the habitual offender law.

Prosecutors have a vital role to play in helping ensure Louisiana finally sheds its title as the prison capital of the world, and declining to seek harsher sentences under this unjust law would be one important step in that direction.