Proposed bill to lower age of criminal responsibility in Louisiana advances
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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A proposal to lower the age a person could be charged as an adult is moving forward at the state house.
Today, Senate Bill 3 passed a Senate Judicial Committee.
This would repeal the "Raise the Age" law from 2017, which was part of a criminal justice reform effort.
That law mandated anyone under the age of 18 would be considered a juvenile. This new bill would lower that to 17.
Opponents of Senate Bill 3 testified today that the reforms saw positive results and shouldn't be undone.
Proponents argued that juveniles are now committing more violent crimes and aren't being punished properly.
They also pointed out that if the bill passes, district attorneys would still have discretion in how to charge a 17-year-old.
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