Committee advances bill to add juvenile records to statewide criminal‑justice management system; opponents warn confidentiality risks

The House Committee on Criminal Justice reported House Bill 445 favorably on April 16 after an extended public comment period in which advocates, defense attorneys and civil-rights groups strongly opposed the measure.

Chairwoman Debbie Villio said the bill is not a disclosure bill and would allow creation of a juvenile component of the statewide Integrated Criminal Justice Management System (ICGIS) to make juvenile records accessible to justice-system stakeholders who need them to make decisions. Villio told the committee that a single line in law that remained after a 2017 change prompted the need for express statutory authority to gather juvenile records into an electronic system.

Opponents in a long public-comment period said the bill threatens juvenile confidentiality and could lead to juvenile information being treated as adult criminal records. Speakers included Reverend Alexis Anderson (East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition), Katie Hunter Lowery of the Vera Institute, Lauren Hall and Ty(e) Davis of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights, Chandra Shea Foster of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Michael Cahoon of the Promise of Justice Initiative, Cree Matlock of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice and others. Testimony emphasized that juvenile records can include sensitive health and education data, that many juveniles who enter the system are never adjudicated delinquent, and that making juvenile records interoperable with adult systems risks lifelong collateral consequences for young people.

Supporters and several committee members said the changes are limited to gathering records in one electronic management system and do not alter who can access juvenile records under existing law. Representative Tony Bacala, a committee member and participant on the statewide board working on the system, said the purpose is operational: to make information available to judges, prosecutors and corrections staff who need a juvenile’s history to place and treat someone appropriately.

Committee Vice Chair Vanessa LaFleur moved favorably. Representative Knox objected; the roll call recorded 9 yes and 3 no votes (Representative Knox, Representative LaFleur and Representative Walters cast recorded no votes). The committee reported the bill favorably.

Opponents urged the committee to add explicit guardrails — for example, definitions of “stakeholders,” limits on school or public access, correction procedures for data errors, and explicit separation of juvenile and adult records in the system. Supporters said Judge Scott Slagle and ICGIS staff are working on technical limits and that the system is intended to help courts and practitioners make better decisions with fuller information rather than expand public disclosure.