Louisiana and Somalia World's Harshest in Treating Juvenile Crime

Louisiana legislators proved it believes there's little quality in mercy. The State refused to review a law allowing teenagers over age 14 sentenced to life to serve a permanent life sentence in the same fashion as Somalia.

Rep. Walt Leger, Democrat New Orleans, presented a bill HB7152 to allow those sentenced to life in prison to be released at age 31. The Catholic diocese of New Orleans supported the measure as did a man by the name of Billy Ebarb of Shreveport who testified in favor of the bill. He declared he had forgiven a young man Charles Manuel who had murdered his brother John 24 years ago in Bossier City. He went on to explain “you know children Inc. got no sense they make bad decisions the consequences when they get caught are severe.” The Shreveport Times carried the story of the legislation and its demise on Wednesday, May 13. It observed that the measure had been killed in committee with a vote of 11- 3. In the late 1990s Louisiana passed a law that raping a child constituted a capital crime. In June 2008 the United States Supreme Court decided that Louisiana law was unconstitutional and not in keeping with the national consensus that restricts death penalty to the worst offenses. It is still possible, however, for a life sentence to be given for that offense. Because Louisiana allows juveniles over the age of 14 who receive a life sentence to serve out the entire term, this means a 15-year-old boy who rapes may spend the rest of his life in prison. Most of us when we think about the country of Somalia we think of a primitive Third World country. Now we learn that Louisiana and Somalia have a common way of treating juvenile offenders. The United States as a whole refused to sign the United Nations Convention on the rights of the Child because of its ban on sentencing children to die in prison. Louisiana, by refusing to make any changes to its present law of locking up juveniles for life, shows its commonality with the country of Somalia by refusing to permit children to be released from prison at the age of 31. The Covenant of the United Nations on the Rights of the Child declares that permanent imprisonment is "inhumane and inconsistent with civilized society and is therefore rejected by most of the world." What is particularly startling about Louisiana law, and the fact that the United States refused to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child are the statistics regarding the number of children sentenced to permanent imprisonment. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch outside of the United States and Somalia, South Africa has four children sentenced to permanent imprisonment, Tanzania has one Israel has seven. This contrasts with the United States having 2270 children presently serving a permanent life sentence. 227 are in California. Whereas the United States elected Barack Obama its first African-American president of the United States polls show a conservative philosophy on punishment and vengeance. This according to critics maintains a culture where politicians actually compete over who can be more ruthless in sentencing offenders. Before 1980 juveniles were sentenced to permanent life imprisonment but since the rise of the conservative movement there have been more harsh sentences resulting in a greater number of juveniles in adult prisons. This puts the United States, according to news reports and statistics on this matter, out of step with the rest of the world.