NEW ORLEANS – The ACLU of Louisiana issued the following statement regarding Jason Williams’ election as Orleans Parish DA. DA-Elect Williams ran on a platform of bold, progressive reforms, including ending the prosecution of personal marijuana possession, combating extreme sentences and pretrial detention, not transferring children to adult court, and committing to never locking up crime victims.
“Today marks a new chapter for Orleans Parish, turning the page on decades of broken ‘tough on crime’ policies that have failed to make us safer, wasted taxpayer money, and devastated Black communities,” said Alanah Odoms, ACLU of Louisiana executive director. “Orleans Parish voters sent a clear message in this election that they’re demanding bold, progressive reforms that will break our addiction to mass incarceration and make our communities stronger and safer. We congratulate DA-Elect Williams on his election and look forward to holding him accountable for delivering on his promise to end the era of mass incarceration in Orleans Parish once and for all.”
Over the last several months, ACLU of Louisiana worked to educate hundreds of thousands of Orleans Parish voters on the candidates’ positions on key civil rights and civil liberties issues. The organization’s candidate dashboard gave voters a user-friendly way to see the candidates’ positions, while radio and digital ads, text messages, and phone calls communicated the stakes of the election to thousands of Orleans Parish voters.
