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Promises for Juvenile Justice
On Wednesday, Sept. 10, the usual clutch of
juvenile-justice reformers -- parents, kids who'd been through the system, activists
and legislators -- congregated with TV news cameras on the steps of the capitol
in Baton Rouge. Staff and volunteers from the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
(JJPL) also showed up as part of a larger group, the Coalition for Effective
Juvenile Justice Reform.
Organizers had invited all the gubernatorial
candidates to sign their intentions in ink, pledging to birddog the newly acted
Juvenile Justice Reform Act (Act 1225) and to fight for even further changes.
The crowd applauded the architects of Act
1225, Sen. Donald Cravins (D-Arnaudville) and Rep. Mitch Landrieu
(D-New Orleans). Then, Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco stepped up, grabbed a
pen and became the first to sign the "Platform for Juvenile Justice Reform,"
a two-page document that starts out with the sentence "Louisiana's juvenile
justice system is broken" and ends with a promise to give the system adequate
resources, training and supervision.
Part of Act 1225 is the closure of the Tallulah
juvenile prison by the end of 2004 ("Little Angolas," Aug. 19). Blanco announced
that once she was elected, she would sign a blanket order to close it earlier
than that.
Candidate Randy Ewing couldn't make
the event but told organizers that he, too, endorsed the platform. The following
day, Richard Ieyoub and Buddy Leach also added their names to
the list. Other candidates had not responded to event organizers by press time.
JJPL spokeperson Kelly Foote explains
why the Platform is necessary: "Nothing's set," he says. Existing juvenile facilities
are still violent, he says, and the state is paying $67,525 a year to incarcerate
one kid at Tallulah, more than it would cost to send him to Harvard University.
Reform has passed, but now it needs to be implemented, says Foote. "It's in
the hands of the next governor to make or break anything," he says. -- Katy
Reckdahl
It's Their Party ...
The top award from the Jefferson Parish Democratic
Executive Committee this year goes to state Rep. Mitch Landrieu -- of
New Orleans. This border-crossing beneficence only underscores a lack of Democratic
elected officials in Jefferson, Louisiana's second most populous parish.
As the party heads into the fall elections
and prepares for the presidential preference primary on March 9, Jefferson Parish
Democrats have both good news and bad news to consider.
As of last month, Democrats made up 48 percent
of registered voters in Jefferson Parish. Democratic candidates will retain
the most powerful parochial offices after the fall elections for coroner, sheriff,
district attorney and parish president, while Republicans will keep the offices
of assessor and clerk of court. The GOP, however, will dominate races for the
Legislature and the Jefferson Parish Council, a Gambit Weekly survey
shows.
Of the 18 legislative districts that represent
at least some portion of Jefferson Parish, 11 are guaranteed to Republican candidates;
in contrast, only two seats are assured to Democrats going into the Oct. 4 primary.
(Republicans will take four of the six Senate seats on the fall ballot. Of 12
House districts representing at least some portion of Jefferson Parish, Republicans
are guaranteed seven seats compared to two seats for Democrats.)
Our survey also shows that Republicans should
dominate the Parish Council. In the list of candidates for the two open at-large
seats on the Parish Council, for instance, there isn't a Democrat in the bunch.
In fact, all four candidates for the Division B seat are Republican, and all
but one (who has no party listed) of the four candidates in Division A are in
the GOP.
"We need to work with our elected officials
and come up with some new and creative ideas to get more Democrats elected in
the parish," says Jamie Beeson Balser, an elected Democratic Party official
who is organizing the parish Democrats' awards banquet.
Landrieu, the frontrunner in the race for
lieutenant governor, will be honored 7 p.m. Tuesday with the seventh annual
Mike Yenni Lifetime Democratic Achievement Award for party leadership. Other
honorees include Democratic gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco,
state Attorney Gen. Richard Ieyoub and former U.S. Rep. Buddy Leach.
-- Allen Johnson Jr.
Anatomy of a Showdown
The saying goes that those who forget their
history are doomed to repeat it; a community forum planned for this week is designed
to commemorate and analyze a singular event in local history.
By the fall of 1970, the racial and social
unrest that plagued the country threatened to take hold in New Orleans. Throughout
that year, the Black Panther movement had developed a major presence in the
Desire housing development, where that group provided a stabilizing force to
a neighborhood that had largely been disregarded by police. Panthers provided
food, security and even after-school tutoring to impoverished Desire residents
and successfully recruited many grateful community members to their revolutionary
cause. As their tenure in Desire grew, so did the unease -- police and Panthers
had run-ins, including a shootout in September. On Nov. 19, 1970, the conflict
came to a head when police arrived to evict the Panthers from a building they
were occupying illegally. The tense standoff nearly erupted in violence between
police and the Panthers and residents who supported them, but with the help
of mediators, religious leaders and Mayor Moon Landrieu, both sides managed
to avoid bloodshed.
This week's event, "Showdown in Desire: A
Reunion and Community Forum," reunites some of the figures in that episode including
Landrieu, former Black Panthers Althea Francois and Malik Rahim,
and civil rights attorney Ernest Jones. The panelists will recall the
event, take questions, and discuss racial and social issues relevant today.
Held at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Ashe Cultural
Arts Center at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., the forum will include a community
meal. For more information, call 569-9070. -- Eileen Loh Harrist
Other Stories This Week in News & Views:
Commentary
Assessing the Problem
News Feature
Their Fair Chair
Bouquets & Brickbats
The Best and the Worst of the Week
Politics
Horse Sense
Penny Post
The Political Idiot
Letters to the Editor
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