BATON ROUGE, La. — Thursday, House lawmakers passed a bill that would double the minimum prison sentence for convicted carjackers. It is the second time that punishment has been strengthened in as many years. Victims have long advocated for longer sentences while experts warn it will cost taxpayer money unnecessarily and raise the risk of more crime, rather than lower it.
House Bill 7 was introduced by State Rep. Laurie Schlegel (R) of Metairie. It would raise the minimum prison sentence for a convicted carjacker from two years to five, and from 10 to 20 for carjackings that result in “serious” injury. The bill enjoyed strong support among lawmakers from the beginning and passed the House 89-15.
Some experts argue, though, that raising the penalty will not stop would-be carjackers. During debate Thursday, lawmakers repeatedly questioned Rep. Schlegel about whether criminals even know the current sentence for carjacking in Louisiana. She insisted that, “they should.”
There is much evidence, however, that longer sentences do not lower crime rates. The National Institute of Justice, an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, released a publication in 2016 saying “increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.” It went on to say that prison time can “exacerbate recidivism.”
Sarah Omojola, Director of social justice nonprofit Vera Louisiana, agreed. She told WWL Louisiana there are “reams of research that tell us that people do not consider sentence length when deciding to commit a crime.”
She argued that not only would House Bill 7 fail to reduce crime, the increased prison time would be inhumane, cost taxpayers unnecessary money, and cause more violent crime in the future. “Exposure to violence and exposure to the tough conditions of our prisons and jails begets more harm and violence,” she said. The only way to prevent violent crime, Omojola added, is providing communities with the resources they need to survive.
Still, there are many in New Orleans who have had their life or that of a family member changed, or even taken, by a carjacker. For them, a longer prison sentence seems like a no-brainer.
After his own experience, Scott Toups is firmly in favor of harsher punishments for carjackers. In 2022, he was dropping beads off for recycling uptown when an escaped 17-year-old inmate shot him twice and took his car. “I think the kid should be in jail for the rest of his life,” he said Thursday.
For him, deterrence is important, though not the goal. He believes the state should consider longer prison sentences to reflect the seriousness of the crime. “Those three months that I was in the hospital, it took a lot from me. I couldn't provide for my family,” he said.
The bill will now move to the State Senate. If it passes, it will need to be signed by the governor before it can take effect.
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