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Last year, the GOP-controlled Louisiana Legislature passed and Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law the "Truth and Transparency in the Louisiana Criminal Justice System" during a special session focused on crime. After years of protecting youth offenders with confidentiality governed by the Louisiana Youth Criminal Code, Republicans decided that moving four years of juvenile court data into a single online system andÌýrequiring the online publication of court minute entries for children charged with violent crimes on or after Jan. 1, 2024, was the way to go.

State Rep. Debbie Villio's juvenile records bill focuses on three Louisiana parishes with majority-Black cities, ostensibly to bring transparency to a juvenile crime problem by allowing everyone to peer into the cases of young people accused — but not yet adjudicated — of serious crimes.Ìý