HOME  E-DEMOCRACY 98  E-DEBATE WEB MN-FORUM

Ken Pentel      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?

Our party platform states:

"The Greens believe the most effective way of dealing with the 
crime problem is prevention, tackling the root causes that 
generate criminal behavior.  This starts with ensuring every 
child gets to grow up with all their physical, social and 
emotional needs met, and every young adult gets the opportunity 
to find their meaningful place in society.  We recognize that, 
regardless of whether these needs have been met, individuals 
are still fully accountable for their own actions, and must 
face appropriate consequences for any misdeeds they commit."

I believe we need to reduce sentencing and incarceration rates 
for victimless crimes. We need to promote alternative 
sentencing, such as meaningful community service, which would 
allow a criminal to repay his or her "debt to society" while 
encouraging "rehabilitation" rather than "vengeance".

We can reduce the long-term cost of our criminal system by 
making community based crime prevention programs available 
rather than large state-wide policies which deal with symptoms 
rather than the root of the problem.  Local community members 
need to be involved in the creation and implementation of these 
programs because neighbors know the challenges and problems 
facing their own community. Costs can also be reduced by 
providing community based educational programs for economically 
disadvantaged communities which provide opportunities to find a 
meaningful place in society.  It is in our best interest as a 
state to invest resources in the future of the economically 
disadvantaged rather than simply building more prisons and 
gated communities.

I firmly oppose the idea of privatizing our prisons.  Rather 
than looking for more cheap places to imprison people, we need 
to seriously evaluate why the United States is the world leader 
in imprisoning its own citizens.