DataLouisiana  

*These factors track the process--i.e. the effort and obstacles--for obtaining data from individual states under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and appeals process. These factors do not measure the quality of the data; only the process of attempting to obtain the data.

• 140 Days

  Time it took to respond to our FOIA request with an Excel file of people currently incarcerated, but not specific to those convicted and sentenced for felony murder

• $50

  Cost to request information

Although we attempted to use publicly available web portals to identify individuals incarcerated under felony murder, as in most other states, Louisiana does not have a statute specifically codifying felony murder, which would make it easier to identify and isolate felony murder conviction data. Instead, as in most other states, felony murder is defined with its other murder statutes and the publicly available conviction and sentence information did not distinguish felony murder from other murder convictions.

We appealed the FOIA results and asked for more specific data related to felony murder, but Louisiana has yet to respond to our appeal.

In Louisiana, felony murder is defined in first degree murder (La. Stat. Ann. § 14:30), second degree murder (La. Stat. Ann. § 14:30.1) and the manslaughter statutes (La. Stat. Ann § 14:31).

Prosecutors can charge and convict any person of second degree murder or manslaughter without having to prove that they intended to cause another person’s death. Prosecutors must only prove that a person committed or attempted to commit another specific felony and a death occurred. “Intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm” is required to prove first degree murder.

A conviction for felony murder, without any proof of intent, carries a sentence of life imprisonment “at hard labor” without the possibility of parole (second degree) or 40 years of imprisonment “at hard labor” (manslaughter). First degree murder carries a sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole and “at hard labor.”