Second Place Isn't Good Enough: Achieving True Reform Through Expanded Parole Eligibility

AuthorMonica L. Bergeron
PositionJ.D., 2020. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
Pages110-165
Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review
Volume 80
Number 1
Fall 2019
Article 10
3-3-2020
Second Place Isn’t Good Enough: Achieving True Reform Second Place Isn’t Good Enough: Achieving True Reform
ThroughExpanded Parole Eligibility ThroughExpanded Parole Eligibility
Monica L. Bergeron
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev
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Repository Citation Repository Citation
Monica L. Bergeron,
Second Place Isn’t Good Enough: Achieving True Reform ThroughExpanded Parole
Eligibility
, 80 La. L. Rev. (2020)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss1/10
This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital
Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital
Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.
337366-LSU_80-1_Text.indd 115 11/27/19 9:28 AM
Second Place Isn’t Good Enough: Achieving True
Reform Through Expanded Parole Eligibility
Monica L. Bergeron*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................................................. 111
I. Rethinking Violent Crime to Achieve True Reform .................... 115
A. Efforts to Address Mass Incarceration in the
United States Have Ignored Deeper Reforms........................ 117
B. Justice Reinvestment Policies Take a Modest
Approach to Criminal Justice Reform ................................... 118
C. Louisiana’s Criminal Justice Reform Has Fallen
Prey to “The Standard Story” ................................................ 120
1. Louisiana’s First Steps Toward “Decarceration”............ 121
2. Louisiana’s 2017 Criminal Justice Reform
Bills Left Gaps ................................................................ 122
II. “Life Means Life”: Excessive Use and Abuse of
Life Without Parole in Louisiana ................................................. 124
A. From 10 Years to Life: Understanding the
Motivations for Longer Sentences in Louisiana .................... 124
1. Bad Timing: Prison Expansion During
the Tough-on-Crime Era ................................................. 125
2. Capitalizing on the Situation: Local Actors
Learned to Profit off of Prisoners.................................... 127
B. How Parole Functions in Louisiana....................................... 128
C. Recent Efforts to Modify the Statute Were
Quickly Shot Down ............................................................... 132
III. An Inclusive Proposal: Expanding Geriatric Parole
Eligibility to Lifers....................................................................... 133
Copyright 2019, by MONICA L. BERGERON.
* J.D., 2020. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University. This
Comment is dedicated to the individuals serving life sentences in Louisiana who
continue to hope that Louisiana’s criminal justice reform will one day reach them.
The author thanks Professor Lancaster for introducing her to the issue and for his
thoughtful comments and guidance throughout the process. The author would also
like to thank her parents, Jill and Terryl Bergeron, as well as her sister, Heidi
Bergeron Gross, for their unending love, support, and encouragement.
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110 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80
A. The Rising Cost of Life Without Parole ................................ 134
B. An Unjustified Sentence: The Evidence Undermining
the Exclusion of Lifers from Act 790 .................................... 136
1. Incapacitation .................................................................. 137
a. Growing Up and Out of Crime: Predicting
Criminality with the Age Crime Curve..................... 138
b. Recidivism Rates Demonstrate that
Incarcerated Individuals Also
Age Out of Crime ..................................................... 140
c. Louisiana Recidivism Rates Highlight
the Low Risk of Expanded Parole
Eligibility to Lifers ................................................... 141
2. Deterrence ....................................................................... 143
a. Misapprehension: Severe Punishments
Fail to Deter Crime ................................................... 144
b. The Data Do Not Lie: Severe Sentencing
Does Not Increase Public Safety .............................. 145
3. Rehabilitation .................................................................. 146
a. The Non-Unique Experience of Prison
as a Turning Point..................................................... 147
b. Recognizing Rehabilitation in Louisiana.................. 148
4. Retribution....................................................................... 150
a. Measuring Proportionality in Louisiana ................... 151
b. Balancing the Victim’s Right to Retribution ............ 153
C. Time’s Up: Political Shifts Pave the Way for
the Expansion of Act 790 ...................................................... 155
1. The “Evolving” Standard of Life Without Parole
and Why Louisiana Should Evolve with It ..................... 156
a. Death is Different No Longer: The Importance
of Graham and Miller............................................... 157
b. Objective Indicia of Consensus Against
Mandatory Life Without Parole................................ 157
c. The Skewed Proportionality and Failed
Utility of Parole Ineligibility for Lifers .................... 159
2. Amending Act 790 Can Ameliorate Harm from
Louisiana’s Non-Unanimous Jury Verdict Law.............. 160
3. The Support for the Proposed Amendment
to Act 790 Has Arrived ................................................... 161
Conclusion.................................................................................... 162

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