Reinvesting in Louisiana's Criminal Justice System

Abstract

It is great to be here with you all today, especially among a group of students, administrators, and faculty at a Catholic institution concerned about social justice. As a lifelong Catholic raised by my mom and dad, I will tell you that social justice was always a subject at our supper table—a dinner table, as some of you would call it. As a Catholic, one of the highlights of my life thus far was traveling to Rome this past January where I had a private audience with the Pope to discuss human trafficking— what we can do in Louisiana to partner with the private sector, do more with our state agencies to combat human trafficking, but also to take better care of human trafficking victims. The victims of crime are not always those who suffer the direct consequences of crime. They can also be the children of the offender, and that is the focus of today’s symposium. It plays into the overall impact of criminal justice reform, which we successfully engaged in this year, changing the direction in the state of Louisiana where we had—for forty years—been going in the opposite direction. So I am excited about what we have done, and I am happy to be here to talk to you all about it.