He was Louisiana’s Attorney General for eight years and watched, mostly helpless since the Attorney General in Louisiana has only limited powers of prosecution despite being nominally the state’s chief law enforcement officer, as crime ran rampant in Louisiana, so it should have been no surprise that Jeff Landry’s first real push for reform in Louisiana would be in the criminal justice realm.

And the just-completed legislative session addressing crime would likely have been Landry’s first real public policy flex had it not been for the mess federal judges have made of the state’s elective-office districts.

That redistricting session was painful, and it’s difficult to call it a success. But the crime session was a totally different matter. Landry got more or less everything he wanted out of a supermajority-Republican legislature which was thirsty for victory.

On the final day of the session, legislators approved HB6, which expands the methods of how Louisiana can execute death row inmates. The bill added nitrogen hypoxia and the electric chair into the toolkit. This is part of the effort of the new governor to resume executions. Louisiana has only put one person to death over the last two decades. There are currently 57 people on the state’s death row.

Family members of victims of people on death row sat in the balcony to watch the heated debate play out in the Senate. Landry joined them to watch the votes happen. Two inmates have already exhausted all of their appeals and would likely be executed not long after the bill goes into effect.

Also given final passage are two bills that would require inmates to serve more of their sentences in prison. HB9 does away with parole for future offenders starting in August of this year. HB10 also significantly reduces the amount of time that can be shaved off based on good behavior to just 15%. HB11 extends how long someone has to be on parole, for those who still qualify, and adds further consequences for those who violate their parole.

Lawmakers also passed SB3, which will designate adults as 17 years or older in the criminal justice system. This means 17-year-olds will be tried as adults when they commit a crime and will be housed in adult facilities.

And of course, a constitutional carry bill passed. So did an anti-carjacking bill, one of the toughest in the country.

Landry was fairly pleased with the results…

“Last year I promised the people of this state, if elected Governor, I would do everything within my power to improve the safety of our communities through legislative and executive action. Today, I can proudly say we have kept that promise. Victims finally have a voice and will receive the justice our state promised them a long time ago; our officers will be supported, and there will be truth and transparency in our criminal justice system. Today, the good citizens of Louisiana who work hard and play by the rules will be able to pump their gas without fear. I appreciate the legislators who worked hard to pass these bills, as well as the victims of crime who had the courage to share their stories.  Today is a great day for Louisiana.”

But of course, the Democrats – who were absolutely steamrolled in the session, and there is a great deal of fear in those quarters that the crime session is only a prelude to a far more wide-ranging spate of clobberings on big policy issues as the regular legislative session looms – were busy caterwauling as the session ended. Matthew Willard is the House Democrat delegation chair, and he blew a gasket in a statement upon the session’s closing yesterday…

“House Democrats are committed to addressing the root causes of crime to make our communities safer and inject real transparency into our criminal justice system.

“The ‘lock them up and throw away the key’ approach does not work. We know this because  Louisiana ranks near the top in both crime and incarceration rates. That’s why House Democrats proposed legislation and amendments that invest in rehabilitation and reentry programs, as well as funding for the Summer EBT program, which nets $67 million in federal funds to feed nearly 600,000 kids in Louisiana.

“Sadly, the legislation brought by the Governor does not improve public safety. These new laws do nothing to prevent crime before it happens. In fact, the bills passed will explode Louisiana’s prison population, increase recidivism, and place an enormous burden on Louisiana taxpayers for generations to come, as the Legislative Fiscal Office made clear.

“Under the guise of ‘public safety,’ the Governor pushed the Legislature to enact laws that limit or altogether eliminate probation and parole. Data shows that probation and parole are among our state’s most successful reentry programs, with standard prison releases resulting in twice the rate of re-incarceration as parolees. Republicans also severely restricted good-time credits, an action that data shows will have no bearing on crime rates. These efforts fail to address the circumstances that arise before the crime has been committed, and will ultimately result in longer prison sentences and higher costs for taxpayers. 

“The Governor’s solution to gun violence throughout our state is to authorize permitless carry. This new law not only fails to address the root causes of crime, but it may have devastating consequences for public safety. Supporters of this legislation argued that to simultaneously address crime and law enforcement shortages, Louisiana needs more 18-year-old people carrying concealed firearms in public with no training or permit. This is an irresponsible position that is driven more by partisan politics than public safety data.

“House Democrats will continue to fight for evidence-based criminal justice reforms that reduce crime and make our communities safer.”

Willard’s hug-a-thug approach is interesting, though something he hasn’t explained is why, since Democrats like him control most of Louisiana’s major cities, they haven’t come up with any approaches to crime which work better.

In El Salvador, for example, which was the world’s murder capital, President Nayib Bukele rounded up practically every member of the criminal gangs responsible for that violent crime and stashed them all in massive prisons – and El Salvador is now the safest country in Latin America. Bukele was re-elected a few weeks ago with 85 percent of the vote because he had the guts to do what was necessary, and the Salvadorans can now release the criminals piecemeal back into a society whose culture is changing into one no longer tolerant of criminals in their midst.

Louisiana tolerates crime. The fact that the state is among the leading incarcerators in America is immaterial to this fact. We incarcerate large numbers of people for a very simple reason – we are plagued with a large number of criminals, so much so that especially in our cities we have a criminal culture pervading the streets. Weak political leadership – and in fact, compromised political leadership, because particularly in New Orleans and Baton Rouge it’s fairly clear that organized crime has influence within certain of the political leaders in those cities – has created a situation in which the rights and privileges of the criminal class have taken precedence over those of law-abiding citizens.

Spend your time trying to cater to criminals with respect to prison conditions, availability of public defenders, speedy appeals and protecting juvenile offenders, which is not to say that those things shouldn’t be attended to, but they’re the only items Democrats like Willard seem to care about, and what you’ll get is an industry with more political power than that of the regular folks the criminals victimize.

Landry is the first governor Louisiana has had who makes a priority of reversing this trend and putting the interests of the law-abiding first.

It’s why the crime session was a success, and it’s why Landry rebuilt a good deal of political capital in this session that was lost in the soul-crushing redistricting session in January.

And now we’re on to a special session, in which a great many significant policy changes are coming. Willard only thinks he’s upset; wait until the regular session ends at the beginning of June.