Bleak predictions for justice in Minnesota, report says

Without a change in course, Minnesota will need to build a new prison for 1,000 inmates every other year from now until 2030.

And the number of black people arrested in the state will nearly double by 2030.

And too many children will be raised by single mothers barely getting by.

Those bleak predictions are part of a call to action being issued today by the Council on Crime and Justice, as the nonprofit group celebrates its 50th anniversary at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The council lays out five corrective actions that the state can take in a 147-page framework titled, "Justice, Where Art Thou?" The exhaustive report details numerous ominous signs for the state's justice system, including a burgeoning prison population and an increasing gap between the state's aging affluent white population and its growing, poor minority population.

"Populations of color here are poorer here than elsewhere," council president Tom Johnson said. "Our trend lines most closely align with Detroit's."

The most politically sensitive trend, the report says, is the nature of the family. The traditional family has changed. In 1960, 5 percent of families in Minnesota were led by a woman. In 2000, 18 percent of state families were -- and the figure was considerably higher in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Their median income in 2000 was a meager $24,335.

The report describes a "bleak picture" of arrest and incarceration in 2030 without corrective action: A 25 percent increase in the total number of arrests from 2006. A doubling of the number of blacks arrested. The number of people imprisoned is expected to double to more than 20,000 and to be disproportionately minority.

"The combination of the white and minority increases means that Minnesota will need to build a new prison holding 1,000 inmates roughly every two years between now and 2030," the report said. "The associated costs, financial and social, are not an acceptable situation."

Right now, blacks make up 32 percent of the prison population and only 4 percent of the general population, the report said, citing U.S. Census and state Department of Corrections statistics. Those numbers are driven in large part by the war on drugs, the report said.

"The obvious injustice demonstrated by the disparity between how different races have been treated in the war on drugs undermines the integrity of the criminal justice system, causing people to lose confidence that the system is even-handed and works equally for the benefit of all citizens," it said.

Efforts to lower the crime rate

The report sets specific goals:

• By 2020, 90 percent of fathers should be active in their children's lives.

• By 2025, 95 percent of high school students should graduate on time and affordable, timely treatment for mental illness and chemical addiction should be available.

• By 2015, the justice system should provide full restoration for every victim and proportionate consequences for offenders.

• The state's correctional model should focus on rehabilitation and redemption.

• By 2012, legal barriers should be removed from the records of criminals except for serious offenders.

"The idea here is if you get out of what's happening on any particular street and look to the future, what is it that we need to do to have the best shot at lowering the crime rate," said Johnson, the Hennepin County attorney from 1979 to 1991.

The plan isn't merely discussion, but action. Johnson likened the setting of such ambitious goals to "driving stakes in the ground."Then the question is: How do you get there?"

What council will do today

At today's event, small groups will develop steps for each of the goals. Those steps will then be discussed by a panel led by state Court of Appeals Judge Natalie Hudson. Panel members include: Bill Green, Minneapolis schools superintendent; Eric Janus, dean of the William Mitchell College of Law; Nekima Levy-Pounds, assistant professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, and Mitch Pearlstein, founder and president of the Center of the American Experiment.

Pearlstein said he wants to delve into the recommendations, but he finds at least one of them "beyond impossible" -- the notion of involved fathers. "It's not going to happen, and one of the reasons is the family breakdown is just too overwhelming in the inner cities," Pearlstein said.

Another panel will feature lawyer Andy Parker and his client Al Hixon, who recently won a federal police brutality lawsuit. Parker is white, and Hixon is black. The two men will discuss how their perceptions shaped the case.

Getting into a discussion on race is critical, Johnson said. "That's where a lot of this breaks down because in Minnesota we don't want to acknowledge it," he said.

He expects several hundred people to attend the event, many of them from the legal and religious communities.

Keynote speaker Malcolm Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point," will talk about what it takes to change attitudes.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

Rochelle Olson • raolson@startribune.com