June 11, 2024

BATON ROUGE—Researchers from the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at the LSU Manship School of Mass Communication released the second report of the 2024 Louisiana Survey. Findings show Louisiana residents approve of a broad spectrum of policies to address crime and criminal justice issues.

The 2024 Louisiana Survey includes two distinct efforts to sample residents of the state and conduct interviews. The Louisiana Survey polled 511 adult residents from across the state via telephone about how they view their government and its policies. The survey was conducted from March 20 to April 23, 2024, and the total sample has a +/- 5.6% margin of error. Additionally, the Louisiana Survey polled 540 adult residents in a parallel survey administered online. The survey was conducted from March 25 to April 3, 2024, and the total sample has a +/- 6% margin of error. The report describes results from the traditional telephone-based survey but also presents results of the online survey. 

Findings from the second of three reports indicate the following views on crime and criminal justice issues:

• A large majority of Louisiana residents (72%) say the amount of crime has increased in the past few years, but fewer (41%) say crime is increasing in their local communities.
• Although most Louisiana residents were not victims of crime over the past year, most personally know someone who was the victim of property crime (58%) and many personally know someone who was attacked or threatened with violence (44%).
• Majorities of state residents support sending Louisiana State Police to help local law enforcement in areas with high crime (84%), having the state Office of the Attorney General take over prosecutions of some local crimes in areas with high crime rates (74%) and increasing spending on local law enforcement (56%).
• Majorities of Louisiana residents also support more alternatives to prison (86%) and allowing judges to have flexibility in sentencing people convicted of crimes (65%). Most (55%) continue to approve of the criminal justice reforms passed in recent years.

Michael Henderson, Ph.D., director of the Louisiana Survey, is available for interviews. Contact acharbonnet1@lsu.edu to schedule.

The Louisiana Survey has been conducted since 2003, establishing rich longitudinal measures of public opinion in Louisiana. The mission of the Louisiana Survey is to establish benchmarks as well as to capture change in residents’ assessments of state government services. The survey is further dedicated to tracking public opinion on contemporary policy issues that face the state. Each iteration of the Louisiana Survey contains core items designed to serve as barometers of public sentiment, including assessments of whether the state is heading in the right direction or wrong direction, perceptions about the most important problems facing the state, as well as evaluations of public revenue sources and spending priorities.

The survey is a project of the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, an integral part of the Manship School of Mass Communication. The Reilly Center’s mission is to generate thoughtful programs, dialogue and research about mass communication and its many-faceted relationships with social, economic and political issues.

Read the second Louisiana Survey report on the LSU Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs website.

For more information, contact acharbonnet1@lsu.edu. 

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