BATON ROUGE, La. — Baton Rouge’s Ramide Cosey was just 15.
The high school freshman was gunned down and killed, along with four others who were hurt, in a drive by shooting New Year’s Day in northeast Baton Rouge.
His senseless death is part of an overarching problem Louisiana must grapple with in 2024:
Young people are falling victim to serious crimes and committing crimes far too often.
“There's no reset button. When you pull the trigger, that's it,” said Baton Rouge attorney Stephen Sterling.
Overall, murders in New Orleans have plunged nearly 25 percent this year. But according to our partners at The Times Picayune New Orleans Advocate, 28 juveniles were murdered in 2023. That’s the highest number in at least a decade. Nearly 60 more were shot.
Tommy Dewey is an attorney and former police officer.
"I think it's more the emotional immaturity of juveniles getting their hands on guns and in these environments where they are quick to pull a gun and shoot somebody," he said of the problem.
Just last week, the Louisiana Violent Crime Task Force recommended the state legislature enact harsher penalties for juvenile offenders.
In a report issued on their findings, the task force said the number of juveniles prosecuted for a violent crime has jumped 56 percent since 2016. But many experts say locking up more kids doesn’t get to the root of the problem.
"I don't think the archaic 'lock them up throw away the key' prevents serious violent crimes. Most of it is done in the heat of passion. They don't think it through; especially juveniles. They don't think much at all, quite frankly,” said Dewey.
In November, judges from Orleans Juvenile Court told New Orleans City Council that the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center was at capacity.
And in December, Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams had harsh words for the Office of Juvenile Justice, which dealt with multiple escapes in 2023 and failed to notify the public that a 16-year-old with a history of violence had escaped from a facility.
"The old adage of ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ the village stopped caring. We're not raising the children anymore. We don't care,” said Sterling.
The Louisiana legislature is set to hold a special session on crime in a few weeks, where they’ll discuss solutions to the juvenile crime problem.
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