New Louisiana Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Criminal Justice Reform

The results are in: our new Louisiana polling data shows that voters across ideological, party and demographic lines overwhelmingly support reforms to the criminal justice system that reduce cost and provide opportunity for those reentering society. With a 50% higher incarceration rate than the national average, Louisiana has not just the nation’s highest incarceration rate but the highest incarceration recorded rate in the world.

Louisiana voters are are ready to make changes to their state’s expensive and ineffective criminal justice system and results like these should be a clear sign to lawmakers that we need reforms to fix our broken criminal justice system. Some of these findings include:

• 82.6% of Louisiana likely voters support justice reform, including 26.8% who believe the system needs a complete overhaul and 29% who think it needs major reform.

• Across ideologies, support levels are consistently high: 81% of conservatives, 87% of liberals and 84% of moderates support reform.

• 74.9% agree that money spent on locking up non-violent offenders should be shifted to other, more locally-focused programs, including almost 50% who agree strongly.

• 91% favor additional rehabilitation programs for low-level offenders, to help turn criminals away from crime and get them off of the taxpayer’s dime.

For more on our poll results in Louisiana, click here.