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Norm Coleman      Response 3

Question 3: Given Minnesota's climbing prison population, the public pressure to reduce taxes and an apparent stalemate in the war on drugs, how would you, as governor, balance the cost of criminal justice with the need to ensure the safety of Minnesotans?

Providing a safe environment for all Minnesotans is a crucial role of
Government.  Statewide, violent crime increased 12 percent between 1991
and 1996.  Reports of gang activity and violence come from cities far
from the urban cores of St. Paul and Minneapolis.  Juvenile offenders accounted
for almost half of the violent crimes committed in 1997.  It is
imperative that we enhance sentencing, enforcement and prevention
efforts to stem the tide of violent, gang and juvenile crime.

Gang members should know that if they come to Minnesota, they will spend 
time in prison if they commit a gang-related felony.  Secondly, we must
give police statewide the tools they need to arrest and prosecute gang
members.  Finally, prevention is the way to break the vicious grip gangs
have on neighborhoods.

These recommendations have been effective in St. Paul, where reports of 
violent crime like homicide and rape has dropped 17 percent and 7
percent, respectively, in the last two years.

In my crime initiative I released in August, I outlined several
initiatives to help ensure the safety of Minnesotans.  In that plan I
called for funding for the Gang Council and Strike Force to be doubled -
to  $7 million annually.  I also called for designating the Commissioner
of Public Safety chair of the Council, which would allow the Governor to
make gang enforcement a priority.  

We should also increase mandatory minimum sentences for gang members
convicted of felonies.  Specifically, I called for increasing the
minimum sentence from one year to five years for felonies committed for
the benefit of a gang, a ten year mandatory prison sentence for a
gang-related felony involving firearm use and a 20 year mandatory
sentence for rape committed in association with a criminal gang.

Guns and gangs are tragically linked.  When guns are used illegally, we
must establish statewide policies to trace the source of those guns,
restrict plea agreements, and require consecutive sentencing for each
gun offense committed.  

People under age 18 constituted 30 percent of all arrests during 1997.  
Sanctions vary considerably.  Many criminal justice professionals
believe that juvenile offenders are not held accountable for their
crime.  I propose we establish statewide guidelines for juvenile
offenders to provider stricter sanctions earlier and ensure supervision
and accountability, lower the age of presumptive certification for
violent offenses from 16 and 17 years of age to 14 and 15 years of age,
and fund four pilot regional juvenile assessment centers to allow a more
comprehensive assessment of a juvenile's history to develop a broader
solution to the problem.  While we need to be tough with young
criminals, we know that enforcement here requires a wider net.


We also must work to reduce crime at the source.  No single law, no
matter how well enforced, will suffice.  Public-private partnership,
prompt intervention and services, and supervision and mentoring are
essential.  I support advocating community schools to allow parents and
neighborhoods to become involved in their children's education and
expanding the Boston Project, a crime-fighting approach that coordinates
police, probation, federal agencies and state efforts which include
increasing probation officers to strengthen community supervision.

Total fiscal impact of the proposals is estimated at $20 million
annually.  However, any cost on the prevention side of the crime agenda
is tripled once a crime is committed.  Public safety has always been my
priority, as a prosecutor in the Attorney General's office, as the Mayor
of St. Paul, as it will be as Governor.