Advocates contest New Orleans’ new tough-on-crime policies
11th June 2019 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Between 75 and 100 people braved drenching rain and whipping winds last Thursday morning to gather at City Hall and push for more effective juvenile justice policies that focus on redemption and rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment.
With Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, the New Orleans Police Department and other government divisions and agencies recently unveiling or endorsing new, comprehensive, incarceration-focused plans for addressing juvenile crime and its effects in the community, the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights held a “Rally to Invest in Kids, Not Cages” in the same corridors of power that produced the draconian policies the LCCR protestors criticized Thursday.
“The policies that emphasize extra enforcement and incarceration are not effective for reducing juvenile crime,” said LCCR Executive Director Aaron Clark-Rizzio after the rally, which lasted about a half-hour and included speeches by several child advocates and juvenile justice activists.
“The policies that we have used in the past, the ones we know work well, are aimed at supporting children and not locking them up,” Clark-Rizzio added. “Within the juvenile justice system, we need to provide alternatives that help keep kids in their communities and with their families, if there’s no risk.”
Clark-Rizzio said the strict policies recently presented by the NOPD, the OPDA and the New Orleans city government devastate the futures of African-American juveniles disproportionately and drastically. He said the root causes leading to the feelings of desperation, frustration and hopelessness that spur juvenile crime must be addressed before the community can find true justice that both turns around the lives of youth offenders and offers solace and emotional restoration to crime victims.
“We can’t forget what families and kids need to succeed,” Clark-Rizzio told The Louisiana Weekly, “like economic opportunity, recreational programs and mental-health services. We can’t expect to withhold such vital services and expect our policies to work.”
But the OPDA’s office responded to Thursday’s LCCR rally by saying that more “holistic” justice programs essentially amount to coddling young criminals and ignoring the rights and suffering of crime victims. The office dismissed the purpose and potential effect of the LCCR as little more than seeking easy publicity.
“We are concerned with public safety, not with stunts staged by the chief of the juvenile public defenders [Clark-Rizzio], whose default position that no teen offender ever should face consequences for criminal conduct in our community is patently absurd,” DA spokesperson Ken Daley told The Louisiana Weekly.
Clark-Rizzio quickly and sharply answered such criticism.
“We need to do what actually works to make our community safer, and DA Cannizzaro’s policies simply don’t work,” he told The Louisiana Weekly. “Incarcerating children, especially in the adult system, only makes them more likely to commit crimes in the future.”
Other juvenile advocates and activists who participated in last Thursday’s rally reinforced the themes put forth by the protesters. Rochelle Odon, special projects coordinator for Our Voice Nuestra Voz, asserted that the organizers of and participants in the rally, including her organization, are backed by families, children and other impacted members of local society.
“The community is absolutely behind this,” Odon said. “LCCR hosted the press conference/rally, and I know of at least a dozen other organizations working with parents and young people in our city who were there to support.”
Odon said that as a community, “we need to invest in families and young people, adding that “fixing the [root] issues [of juvenile crime] is the work.”
“We do this by being in communication, in community, and investing in young people and their parents,” Odon said.
Odon specifically addressed the strict, city-wide curfew recently imposed on the community by local authorities, stating that the roll out of the new rules was poorly communicated to the public, especially residents who don’t speak English as their first language.
“Many people in our city are not aware [of the curfew] because information about the curfew was communicated via press releases, but none of this information was translated into Spanish or other languages,” Odon said. “People need the right information in order to engage the people around them, city leadership, and create better solutions,” she added.
Sarah Omojola, director of the Welcoming Project, a Travis Hill NOLA initiative, agreed. She said citizens’ belief that crime has been on the rise in New Orleans is erroneous, adding that crime has actually decreased, partially thanks to the type of preventative and restorative policies the protesters advocated.
“The facts don’t lie,” Omojola said. “Crime is down since last year and punitive, tough-on-crime approaches do not work to decrease juvenile crime. What works are approaches that actually address the causes of crime – lack of support and lack of opportunity and a lack of investment in youth.”
With last week’s rally, Omojola said, the groups involved successfully continued to impart their goals and efforts to the public.
“Youth advocates from across the city – including Travis Hill Nola, Our Voice Nostra Vos, [and] Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children – successfully sent the message that we disagree with an approach that reaches backward to failed policies,” she told The Louisiana Weekly. “If our leaders and residents are interested in what actually works to improve public safety, they agree with us.”
Omojola criticized what she views as ineffectual, punishment-based juvenile-justice policies that have failed across the state.
“The Welcoming Project knows what our young people need in order to succeed – high quality schools, mentors, workforce development, job opportunities and access to trauma-informed mental health services,” she said. “Our city, and state for that matter, have already seen the toll of tough on crime policies, of under-investment in schools, and of a lack of mental health services on our youth. It’s time to do something different, something that is actually effective.”
Clark-Rizzio said the LCCR and its organizational allies want to work with government and law-enforcement officials as well as families and the community to create and implement juvenile justice policies that are effective from every angle.
“We’ll continue to meet with kids and families and other advocates to come up with solutions that we feel policymakers should adopt,” he said. “We want to meet with [government and justice officials] to move these policies forward. We’re committed to working with the folks who come up with successful solutions.”
Representatives from the Mayor’s Office and the NOPD did not respond to requests for comment by The Louisiana Weekly.
City Councilman Jared Brossett, who publicly lauded Cantrell’s recent juvenile justice proposals, also did not respond to a request for comment on the LCCR’s rally.
In late May, Brossett released a statement endorsing the efforts of Cantrell and law enforcement to stem the tide of youth crime. In that statement, Brossett zeroes in on eliminating the fear of crime and violence that he said permeates the community and lessens the quality of life of law-abiding residents.
Stating that “my constituents are tired of being victims,” Brossett expressed the necessity of imposing meaningful consequences on youth who break the law.
“Most residents in New Orleans believe in redemption and reform,” he said, “but they also believe in and expect personal responsibility and justice when a crime has been committed. We cannot make excuses for or attempt to normalize the current situation, where residents are being victimized daily.”
However, Brossett tempered his hard-line on crime by stressing that, as chair of the City Council’s Budget Committee, in addition to pressing for cutting-edge investigation, enforcement and prevention technology to curb crime, he also places emphasis on the funding of programs and services that provide avenues for potential juvenile offenders to avoid crime for the beginning.
With that, he echoed the messages put forth by the LCCR last week.
“Teens who have access to quality, engaging workforce development and employment opportunities are more likely to end up on the path of success,” Brossett stated. “When we create meaningful job and learning opportunities, at-risk teens are less likely to have idle time on their hands, establishing a foundation for their future, and reducing their chances of dropping out of school.
“I commend the Mayor for taking steps to match at-risk teens with quality summer employment and recreational opportunities. This gives them a chance to build the skills and capacity needed to meaningfully contribute to our city.”
This article originally published in the June 10, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
