NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced his support of the Truth & Transparency Bill, a piece of legislation that would provide criminal court information to the public.
If passed, the bill would create the Criminal Justice System Pilot Program, which would provide online access available to the public, specifically for victims, defendants’ families, and the media. The database will be free to access and will focus on Orleans, Caddo & East Baton Rouge parishes.
Landry says the system will consist of information input from Louisiana Department of Justice clerks. This will provide a secure connection to its criminal court records and databases and will move to an online portal for citizens to view criminal court records.
“The people of Louisiana have a right to know what is happening in our court system, whether the system is working, and how those trusted to run the system are delivering justice and protecting us from violent crime,” Landry said in a statement. “You cannot maintain the rule of law, or dispense justice when we are all wandering around lost in the dark,” concluded Attorney General Landry.
The AG says the bill would reveal when key players in the justice system are not doing their jobs.
“This plan will expose who in the system should be held accountable for the failures; when DA`s fail to prosecute, when judges fail to act, when police are handcuffed instead of the criminals.”
Landry adds that this bill could lead to the creation of a registered victim notification system, which would notify of upcoming court proceedings related to their cases.
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