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Abstract: 

The Louisiana Sentencing Commission (LaSC) was created by statute in 198 but was dormant for several years until re-launched by the Louisiana Legislature in 2008 to address escalating costs and high recidivism rates in the state’s corrections system. A study undertaken by The PEW Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project found that Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate in the country, and the state’s own DPS&C Briefing Book determined only 37% of those imprisoned had been convicted of violent crimes. In a JRI case study, the Urban Institute found that Louisiana’s prison costs had tripled over the last 20 years. The legislature turned to the Sentencing Commission, which is statutorily mandated to “conduct a comprehensive review of Louisiana’s current sentencing structure, sentencing practices, probation and parole supervision, and the use of alternatives to incarceration” (R.S. 15:321), to recommend solutions for improving Louisiana’s correctional performance. The data collected presents the first broad picture of monitoring in Louisiana, while identifying key areas where more research is needed.

Keywords: data collection instruments; RF Tether; Continuous Alcohol Monitoring; compliance with home incarceration

Affiliations:  1: Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections.