New bill sets tiered risk system for juvenile offenders, aims to secure facilities

BATON ROUGE – Juvenile offenders will be sorted into appropriate facilities based on a new tiered risk system signed into law June 18. 

The new system, set by Senate Bill 323 or Act 693, will sort juveniles into three categories—low, moderate, and high risk—based on an assessment that will be done when they are taken into custody with the Office of Juvenile Justice. This assessment will analyze several factors, including age, sex, aggressive tendencies, and whether their environment is conducive to criminal activity. 

Juveniles will also undergo a medical, educational, and psychological evaluation upon being taken into custody. 

Act 693 also reads that a care plan will be created for juveniles in the Office’s custody, “which, at a minimum, shall include treatment, service, academic, and vocational opportunities.”

Senator Heather Cloud, the author of the bill, says the bill and the system were created in an effort to secure facilities.

Governor John Bel Edwards signed the bill just days after a riot broke out and three teens escaped from the same youth detention facility in New Orleans.