James Lapeyre, leader of Smart on Crime Louisiana, and Daniel Erspamer, CEO of Pelican Institute, had to go on the record in an OpEd to The Advocate concerning U.S. Senator John Kennedy’s mischaracterizations of the criminal justice reforms in Louisiana. Here are just a few of the claims that he made vs. the facts:

  • Claim: “22 percent of the [early release] inmates have been rearrested.”
  • Fact: State records show the re-arrest rate is actually 19 percent. This is below the national re-arrest average of 26 percent.
  • Claim: “Our recidivism is on track to exceed 50 percent.”
  • Fact: Per the Department of Corrections, in the nine months since the reforms were implemented, the reincarceration rate is 6 percent, behind pace of the full-year average of 15 percent before the reforms.
  • Claim: “Louisiana’s streets are not safer because of criminal justice reform.”

And of course, there’s much more where that came from. Continue reading the OpEd to learn more. As a great man once said, facts are stubborn things.