Criminal Justice Committee

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The mission of the Criminal Justice Committee is to develop programs and methods which most effectively allow the bar to work with the courts, other branches of government, and the public to ensure that the constitutionally mandated right to counsel is afforded to all who appear before our courts.

At the request of the Right to Counsel Committee, the LSBA Board of Governors approved a change in the name of the Right to Counsel Committee to the Criminal Justice Committee. The change was made to reflect the interest of the Bar and committee members to be inclusive of all participants when discussing Criminal Justice issues. This website will continue to reference the “Right to Counsel Committee” in regards to work accomplished prior to the name change.


2011 Criminal Justice Summit
The 2011 Louisiana Criminal Justice Summit was convened by the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Committee to help address the ongoing challenges faced by those working in Louisiana’s criminal justice system. At the first statewide Summit, attendees identified six topics that merited shared and immediate attention. After reviewing those topics, the Criminal Justice Summit Planning Committee identified funding as the issue which seemed most critical to maintaining a functional and effective criminal justice system in Louisiana. Funding has long been a challenge for many components of the criminal justice system. As the state faces serious budgeting challenges, improving the efficiency and accountability of the assessment, collection and distribution of fines and costs will serve to improve the funding outlook for the criminal justice system as a whole.
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2012 Criminal Justice Summit
The goal of the LSBA’s annual Criminal Justice Summit is to convene a diverse group of criminal justice community stakeholders in order to effectively address issues of shared concern. In planning the 2012 Summit, there was broad agreement among Committee members, including judges, prosecutors, public defenders, law enforcement and community organizations that Louisiana’s current expungement law and process are in need of study and reform. The 2012 Summit sessions were moderated by criminal justice leadership with the goal of addressing this important issue, arriving at consensus and developing to recommendations for the State Law Institute to consider as they review the current expungement law. Following a series of topical presentations, participants of the Summit engaged in small group dialogue to develop strategies for improving Louisiana’s expungement statutes.