New Orleans’ MCC weighs in on juvenile electronic monitoring failures

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Law enforcement leaders across the state met with Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday for a juvenile justice summit to discuss electronic monitoring.

Now, the Metropolitan Crime Commission in New Orleans is weighing in.

As calls for more transparency stack up against New Orleans’ Juvenile Justice Intervention Center, Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche explains, along with the electronic monitoring companies, several agencies play a role in ensuring the public is safe from violent offenders.

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The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice is responsible for any offender who’s been put on probation and ordered to wear an ankle monitor.

“The state probationary authorities are responsible for making sure that the offenders are complying with the conditions of their probation, and if that information is not being monitored by the state or is not being shared in a timely manner with the judges, that’s a problem,” said Goyeneche.

If a juvenile violates the terms of their pre-trial release, the juvenile’s judge must be notified in real time and must act immediately. If not, the consequences have proven to be deadly.

“It resulted in the tragedy, and that was an example of the tour guide being killed by a 15-year-old who is now going to be prosecuted as an adult for that. So, if the court thought that they were doing a favor and their concern was the offender, they’re not doing the offender any favors by releasing them on their own recognizance, so to speak,” said Goyeneche.

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The city released its own statement, saying the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office never delivered on a plan earlier this year to move forward with alternative electronic monitoring programs.

According to Goyeneche, there’s no time for the blame game.

“I think the important thing moving forward, it’s not what was done in the past, it’s what’s being done now and what needs to be done in the future to make it safer for the community and provide better outcomes for the offenders,” Goyeneche said.

A new Louisiana law that aims to hold electronic monitoring companies accountable if they fail to keep track of an offender will take effect in January.

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