A recent piece by Ruben Rosario in the Pioneer Press put the spotlight on incarceration rates and sentencing guidelines here in Minnesota. For years, Minnesota has ranked as having one of the lowest incarceration rates by the per-capita measure, thanks in large part to a corrections system that pushes many low level offenders through a supervised release program aimed at preventing recidivism. It’s great that the state isn’t over-punishing petty criminals and is actively working to prevent repeat offenses, but that mindset stands in stark contrast to how the state handles some more serious criminals.
According to research by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project, Minnesota has had the ninth largest growth of all states in its punishment rate over the past three decades. Instead of looking at the percentage of a population who are incarcerated, the new analytical tool looks at the rate of incarceration compared to the crime itself. In this case, they looked at the average sentence for Part 1 offenses, which includes aggravated assault, burglary, criminal homicide, larceny theft, motor vehicle theft, rape and robbery. After comparing the average sentences for these crimes over the past few decades, researchers uncovered that Minnesota had the ninth largest growth in punishment rate since 1983.
Harsher Punishments
A closer look at the study revealed:
- Overall, states have become 165 percent “more punitive” between 1983 and 2013, despite the fact that crime rates have fallen since 1991.
- Colorado was the state that has seen the biggest spike in longer sentencing, boasting a 417 percent spike since 1983.
- Minnesota has had a 257 percent punishment-rate hike during the same period.
- The US is the leading jailer of its citizens. We have about 5 percent of the world’s population, but we hold about 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.
- On average, 1 in 3 African American men in America has the chance of being sentenced to a prison term of at least one year during their lifetime.
- 3.6 percent of minor children have at least one parent in prison.
Adam Gelb, director of the Pew study, said the drop in the national crime rate is likely due in part to the fact that states are dolling out harsher sentences for certain offenders, but we’re also getting better at policing and preventing crime. He’s not sold that longer sentences for Part 1 offenses is a perfect solution, but he noted that “Minnesota has done a very good job of focusing prison space on serious and chronic offenders.”
