Transforming Our Youth
Since 2000, Families & Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children have been working to break the cycle of generational incarceration.
The state of Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the world. The youth incarceration rate is 33% higher than the national average. The state spends $155,000 a year per child to imprison a child in juvenile detention, but only $12,000 a year per child for education, according to the official fiscal year budget report.
An exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars is spent on juvenile incarceration. Last year, our state’s Office of Juvenile Justice spent $165.6 million to operate the juvenile system. Furthermore, individual parishes spent millions more on juvenile courts and jails each year. Proud Gov. Landry is now proposing another $93 million on four new youth prisons, even though youth crime has declined significantly in recent years.
Most certainly, these numbers are more than troubling, but building more jails to lock up more kids isn’t solving the underlying problems in our communities. For over 25 years, Families & Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children has been fighting to transform the juvenile justice system. Visit FFLIC.org to learn how to help save our youth in America.
Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights has a few viable options:
Restorative Justice requires the defendant to come face to face with the victim(s) of the crime, while this individual explain in detail how the crime impacted them and/or their family. Theoretically, by hearing. the true consequences and impact of their actions clearly stated by the victim, they are less likely to commit the crime again. The defendant must come up with a plan for making an amends to the victim, both parties in cooperation, accountability with an emphasis on conflict resolution The practice engages all parties in accountability and conflict-resolution to foster better relationships and build healthier communities.
Credible Messengers are community-rooted leaders or mentors who use their own shared lived experiences, often including prior involvement in the justice system and life on the street. The build trust with at-risk youth to act as interventionists, transforming behavioral norms and reducing violence in their local neighborhoods. Rather than relying on traditional, clinical social work, this model relies on the youth’s trust and faith being more easily gained by someone with similarities and real-life experience. Extensive studies have highlighted the effectiveness of credible messengers in reducing recidivism and changing communities.
Family-focused, Multidimensional Therapy, such as Multisystemic Therapy (MST) An intensive, in-home treatment program that looks at the whole ecosystem of the youth (family, peers, school) to address the root causes of antisocial behavior. and Functional Family Therapy (FFT) A short-term, highly structured therapy model that helps families improve communication, set boundaries, and alter delinquent behavior. Instead of removing a child from their support system, these programs work directly with the family to resolve underlying trauma and behavioral issues.
Locking up our youth only fuels intergenerational incarceration by destabilizing their lives, disrupting their education, and exposing them to trauma and institutionalization. This cycle makes them more likely to return to the justice system as adults. Experts advocate for intensive community support and specialized care rather than punitive detention to break this cycle now rather than looking back to see how we failed our youth and the future.