John Marty's Agenda for Minnesota's Future: Crime Prevention

Vision

Minnesotans have a right to feel safe in their homes and secure in their communities and places of work. John Marty's record demonstrates he is tough on crime, and he knows there is a difference between "smart tough" and "dumb tough" on the issue. As Governor, John will focus his energy and state resources in three ways: preventing crime before it occurs, aggressively responding to crime and violence and ensuring victims' rights, restitution and support services.

Record

• Authored numerous bills increasing penalties for violent criminals and sexual offenders.
• Authored legislation requiring effective sanctions against, and more treatment for, DWI offenders.
• Consistently authored and pushed legislation to prevent crime by providing full funding for domestic abuse programs and advocacy programs in every part of the state, requiring mental health and alcohol and drug dependency screening and treatment for juveniles in trouble with the law, and allowing cities in the metro area to enact gun control ordinances stricter than state law.

John Marty's Agenda For crime prevention

1. Prevent Crime Before It Occurs.

   Policies and programs that emphasize crime prevention are the only cost-effective method for reducing crime and increasing personal and com- munity safety. These efforts may not be cheap, but they are far cheaper than $26,000 per year to house a prisoner or $80,000 per bed to build new prisons. As Governor, John will prevent crime by making wise investments that:

   • Address the alcohol and drug dependency and mental health needs of children. Many juveniles in trouble with the law have these problems. Pilot programs instituted in California to treat mental health and chemical dependency problems of serious juvenile offenders have reduced repeat criminal offenses by over 50%.
   • Provide home visitation programs through the public health nurse and the Early Childhood and Family Education home visitation programs. Most adults who perpetrate crime were abused or neglected as children. These programs reach at-risk families and provide the parent education and support needed to stop the cycle of abuse and neglect.
   • Fully fund the Crisis Nursery and Respite Care programs to help prevent child abuse by providing child care and safe housing for children whose parents are temporarily unable to care for them.
2. Aggressively combat crime and violence.

   Public safety must be our top priority. Minnesota's violent crime rate is increasing slowly but steadily. This is not comforting news to thousands of Minnesotans who have been directly or indirectly affected by the violence and fear crime generates. While John will continue his strong support for tough sentences for violent criminals, he recognizes this is not enough. It does nothing to protect us from those who are never caught and, more importantly, it does nothing to prevent people from becoming dangerous in the first place. As Governor, John will:

   • Increase certainty of punishment and swiftness of court trials as a deterrent to crime.
   • Provide greater resources for hiring police officers for community policing.
   • Provide greater resources for hiring parole and probation officers. There are approximately 8,000 Minnesotans behind bars while ten times as many are on parole, probation or supervised release. This figure has more than doubled in the last ten years, yet funding for probation departments has not kept pace and many serious offenders receive far too little supervision.
   • Take guns away from all people convicted of felonies and violent crime, and ban the sale of assault rifles. While gun control laws will not eliminate crime, they are an important part of our response to crime. reasonable gun laws will not interfere with the rights of hunters.
   • Allow metropolitan areas to pass stricter gun control laws to address drive-by shootings and guns in schools.
3. Ensure Victim's Rights, Restitution and Support Services.

   All too often the rights and needs of crime victims are ignored in the criminal justice system. We need a renewed emphasis on policies that support victims' rights, restitution for victims and resources to victim support services. As Governor, John will:

   • Require restitution of loss, damage or physical harm to victims caused by crime before fees and penalties paid to the state. Through restitution and community service, offenders must begin to repay their victims and society for the harm they have done.
   • Institute restorative justice for non-violent crimes including mediation to require offenders, especially juvenile offenders, to come face-to-face with the human impact of their actions.
   • Fully fund domestic abuse advocacy programs to provide basic services for battered women and their children in every county in Minnesota. This would include a 24 hour crisis line, safe housing and information about support services.

Prepared by Minnesotans for Marty, 2161 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55114 Telephone/Fax: (612)644-5775/644-4131

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