Offer Restorative Justice as an alternative to prison time.

 

This bill would help many people avoid hard prison time in order to keep their lives on track with the rest of the

world. Anyone who pleads guilty can be found eligible, and will serve less prison time if they choose the restorative

route rather than serving time. When the restorative circle is over, the convict’s record will be stripped of the crime

they committed if a judge finds it to be appropriate. All who partake will be given access to psychologists and medical

staff to monitor progress. When progress is fully realized, the patient will be able to leave.

 

 

Prison tends to ruin people’s lives. Only 39% of employers are actually interested in hiring these convicted felons,

citing how they would be less skilled, more violent, and likely to relapse. Restorative Justice has shown to reduce

recidivism rates by up to 10-25%, while also creating a healing environment for those who need it. Conventional justice

also fails to help those who need it. Only 16% of the victims are happy with the sentence under conventional justice,

while 85% of all victims say they feel satisfied with the process of restorative justice. Restorative Justice also

allows for the perpetrator to communicate with the victim, to try and make amends. The Cost Social Benefit Ratio of

Restorative justice is 14$ to 1$, while Conventional Justice only returned 4$, due to high recidivism rates. Sources

also state that Restorative Justice will save the prison system money as well.

 

 

Conventional Justice shall be defined as the standard process of law, offering only prison time.

Restorative justice (RJ) is a set of procedures based in Indigenous peacemaking practices that reduces recidivism and

guides the effective reparation of harm.

Recidivism is defined as the tendency of convicted felons to reoffend.

The Cost Social Benefit Ratio is defined as how much of a social return on investment (SROI) there is from every dollar

of funding.

 

 

The funding for this bill will come out of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, specifically the prison budget.

 

Any prison not allowing for a Restorative Justice will have their funding revoked until they implement Restorative

Justice.

 

 

January 1, 2030