Timely and Highly Relevant Courses with Louisiana’s Current Criminal Justice Reform Climate

Last year, the State of Louisiana approved a series of legislative changes aimed to correct Louisiana’s long-standing reputation as leading the nation in incarceration rates. A second concern, the state’s continuing budget woes, played a significant role in the desire to reform criminal justice policies.

Some changes include reducing prison sentences for certain offenses, diverting individuals from prison (specifically those charged with nonviolent crimes), and providing more opportunity for parole and probation. Thanks to these reforms, Louisiana has so far saved 12.2 million dollars. The governor has earmarked 1.7 million dollars toward victim services, an often underfunded and overlooked component of the criminal justice system. 

Courses offered by the CJUS department can help students better appreciate the context of crime and punishment in our state. To understand how the prison system operates in Louisiana, our Corrections class offers a basic framework to begin thinking about the history, components, and multifaceted aspects of incarceration. Our Death Penalty course is always popular with students, as Louisiana has tried and failed numerous times to overturn the death penalty, a practice which costs taxpayers much more than life without parole sentences. The importance and benefits of victim services are covered in our Restorative Justice course and our Victimology course. Another popular course, The Politics and Policies of Getting High, explores the high financial and humanitarian cost of harsh sentences for marijuana users.

The relevancy of our courses appeals to students who are looking to more fully understand the climate of Louisiana laws and criminal justice today. Our curriculum can be easily utilized to make sense of the complex world in which we live, especially in a state with such “get tough” laws on crime. Choosing CJUS as a major or deciding to take a CJUS class can engage students with the outside world in a way that few other departments are able to do.