Louisiana Justice Issues

View of incarcerated women from the Louisiana

Historic New Orleans Collection, 2018.0513.9

MASS INCARCERATION

Louisiana Leads in Mass Incarceration

Louisiana leads the nation in incarceration—a legacy rooted in slavery. In 2024, lawmakers reversed key reforms from the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), which had successfully lowered incarceration rates and saved the state over $150 million in just five years. The prison population is predicted to double by 2034.

Learn More

WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Louisiana Leads
in Wrongful Convictions

Louisiana has the second highest rate of wrongful convictions in the country. New Orleans has the highest rate in the country among cities. Innocent people, especially Black Louisianans, are more likely to be wrongfully convicted, sentenced to death, and imprisoned as children here than almost anywhere else.

WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

Louisiana Leads in Wrongful Convictions

Louisiana has the second highest rate of wrongful convictions in the country. New Orleans has the highest rate in the country among cities. Innocent people, especially Black Louisianans, are more likely to be wrongfully convicted, sentenced to death, and imprisoned as children here than almost anywhere else.

Learn More

Greg Bright, client of Innocence & Justice Louisiana

EXCESSIVE SENTENCING

Louisiana Leads in Excessive Sentencing

Louisiana sentences more of its citizens to life in prison than any other state. Harsh laws like the habitual offender statutes, the elimination of parole, and laws that treat all participants in the crime equally for sentencing, drive extreme, often unjust, sentences and keep prison populations high.

Learn More

Unjust Incarceration of Women

Women are the fastest-growing prison population in the U.S.. The system often fails to account for women’s experiences with trauma and violence, instead relying on harmful stereotypes that ignore how many women are victimized before they are criminalized.

Learn More