A much-needed boost for restorative justice

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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As part of the additional funding package for public safety, Minnesota lawmakers are rightly poised to bring needed reforms to the state's juvenile justice system.

Early this week, legislators approved $880 million in funding to enhance public safety and reform juvenile justice, with a needed emphasis on restorative justice through prevention and intervention approaches for youth.

The bill rightly addresses serious problems documented in the 2022 Star Tribune investigative series "Juvenile Injustice." The report found flaws in Minnesota's current patchwork system in which the quality and access to youth diversion, rehabilitation and residential programs varies widely from county to county.

The series reported that many counties fail to intervene with kids early enough, often leaving parents with nowhere to turn for help. It also concluded that existing programs are often poorly funded, lack consistent standards and are not well monitored.

To address those issues, the bill allocates $500,000 per year to establish and maintain the Office of Restorative Practices to promote alternatives that would hold youth accountable for their actions without sentencing them in court. Participants could avoid criminal records if they participate in nontraditional programs such as group-offender dialogues and family conferences.

The new office would provide crime-prevention grants as well as fund youth intervention programs and help crime victims. It also will answer the pleas of county prosecutors, law enforcement officials and justice advocates hungry for restorative justice alternatives that have been successful in other parts of the country. The office will be housed under the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Office of Justice Programs until it is moved to the new Department of Children Youth and Families and would ensure that every county has at least one local restorative justice program.

This Star Tribune Editorial Board has supported many of the changes called for in the bill, including providing more facilities for troubled youth to be held, educated and effectively treated. To that end, the package includes $5 million to establish at least five residential treatment homes in Ramsey County to serve teens with serious behavioral or mental health issues who have been found guilty of delinquency offenses.

"We are starved for more options," Ramsey County Attorney John Choi told the Star Tribune, noting that judges often lament not having enough places to send youth who need intensive therapy.

In a statement, Choi said he is grateful that lawmakers in a bipartisan way recognized "the need to invest in intensive therapeutic treatment homes for young people with significant unmet mental health needs who are cycling through the legal system … and truly address the underlying causes of justice involvement."

The bill also amends state law to bring it into compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on juvenile life incarceration without parole. Minnesota will become the 28th state to outlaw the practice — more than a decade after the high court ruled it excessive and unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.

This change offers most prisoners serving sentences of 15 years or more for juvenile offenses the opportunity to appear before a review board, which will determine whether they can safely be released.

Critics of restorative justice programs argue that they can lead to an arrest-and-release pattern that puts too many offenders back on the streets without justice being served. That's a concern for Minnesota and must be studied over time. But done well, such programs should result in fewer repeat offenses, not more.

It's critical for the state and counties to offer safe, effective justice options for children and teens. The legislation puts important resources toward programs that offer both accountability and rehabilitation.