Editorial: Prison growth trend needs reversal

A 50th birthday invites reflection on the past and contemplation of the future. That half-century exercise by Minnesota's Council on Crime and Justice has given this state a report that is both disturbing and hopeful.

"Justice, Where Art Thou?" warns that unless current patterns change, Minnesota will witness a marked increase in its prison population in the next two decades. That forecast springs from an extrapolation of today's sharp contrast between incarceration rates of white and non-white Minnesotans, and a comparison of the expected growth rates of those two groups -- and particularly of males between the ages of 18 and 30, the cohort most prone to criminal activity.

Minnesota's nonwhite population of young males is forecast to grow much faster than its white counterpart, the report notes.

Further, it says, beginning in the 1980s, a number of forces conspired to fuel a dramatic surge in arrest and incarceration rates among nonwhite males -- and none of those forces has abated. Beginning 25 years ago, juvenile offenders were increasingly regarded as adults by the courts. Drug laws emphasized punishment over treatment. Sentencing guidelines lengthened prison terms. State mental health institutions closed, in favor of community services that were inadequate. One-parent households became prevalent, especially in nonwhite communities. School drop-out rates climbed.

And technology made it possible for employers, landlords or lenders to easily learn the criminal record of any applicant, no matter where or when that record arose. Even arrests that do not lead to convictions have become barriers to jobs and homes.

When two-thirds of young African-American males in some communities have at least an arrest on their records, "this is the civil rights issue of our time," said council president Tom Johnson. "You don't have to discriminate on the basis of race. You can do it on the basis of a minor record, not even involving a conviction."

The hope in the council's report lies in its call to action. Today's incarceration trends don't have to point to Minnesota's fate. The council recommends strategies to reduce the high school drop-out rate, improve access to mental illness treatment, and guarantee fathers' -- even those in prison -- involvement with their children.

Many of those prescriptions will take years to fill. But one can be done soon. The council plans to ask the 2008 Legislature to reclassify arrests that do not lead to convictions as private rather than public records. That move would not expunge the records. The law enforcement community would continue to have access to them. But it would tell those with the most minor of criminal records that Minnesota still believes in them. It would be a start on sending a message that many more young offenders need to hear.