It’s quite interesting how the basic principles that affect the functionality, layout, and design of a website also parallel applied law such as what you’ll find with the laws regarding habitual offenders in Louisiana. The web developer, or any other expository writer for that matter, has some sense of what she is doing when drafting a post, landing page, or sales funnel, but the basic concept is the same. Organize your information in such a way that the visitor gains knowledge to what she is looking for, simplifies the complexity of that information by giving it an appropriate structure, and makes it easy for that visitor to navigate. As you’ll find here in this guide to the Louisiana habitual offender law, we follow this same protocol.
In such a matter, there are many aspects of a well-designed website that are similar to how a prosecuting attorney will construct the habitual offender case in order to ensure the correctness of the sentence imposed. In fact, in many aspects, the principles are the same. The court systems, the penal system, and the law itself must be structured correctly, and laid out reasonably, so that subsections, amendments, revisions and exceptions all agree with specific and unique elements of the law. Even the images used in a properly constructed case should either contribute to the comprehension of the point being made or it should be an obvious extension of the point being made.
This is why, in the case of Louisiana habitual offender law, you’ll find a contrast along with an extreme application of the same principles. For example, the normal degree of a felon may not seem too bad after being convicted, sentenced, and incarcerated for a felony. Yet, when that person has committed two or more previous felonies, regardless of the length of incarceration time, habeas corpus can be invoked and the habitual offender statute, found in Louisiana Revised Statutes, Title 15, Chapter 5, Acts 1977, No. 508, §1.
As paraphrased from the original text, the LA habitual offender law states: (A) Any person found guilty of a fourth or subsequent felony in any state or federal court, or under any law, or under any law of the United States, shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for the term of his natural life without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. (B) Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense against the laws of this state shall be punished by imprisonment at hard labor for the term of his natural life without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. (C) Any person found guilty of a crime of which there is no statutory limitation shall be punished as provided in subsections (A) or (B) of this Section as applicable. (D) The foregoing sentences prohibiting probation, parole, or suspension of sentence shall not apply to persons convicted of any offense punishable by death or by imprisonment at hard labor for a term exceeding 6 months who have been convicted of only one or two prior felonies.
Is it really that simple? Perhaps not, but that is how the basic principles of law operate. With that, we also understand that Louisiana Rev. Stat. 15:529.1 may not be universally appealing because this law could be considered unfair or unjust, especially in the case of a wrongful conviction. However, similar to the work that’s required to integrate LA habitual offender law into a user-friendly website or user experience, the application of this law has to be polished, polished, and polished again in order for it to make sense at the end of the day. So, while many people may think that this law is unjust, it has been put in place to ensure that habitual criminal offenders are taken off the streets for good.