Vision

Public Safety

A Well-Defined, Comprehensive Strategy for Community Safety

Everyone deserves to feel – and to actually be – safe. And that’s not true today, for people across Hennepin County. We need to take immediate steps to protect people today, while at the same time, developing long-term strategies that address the issues that make violence a possible choice – despite the possibility of prison – for so many.

Mary’s decades of experience working with victims, those who commit violence, and our communities, gives her a unique understanding of those issues and the ways to bring people together to address them. Mary recognizes that while not all abused children and victims of violence grow up to become people who commit abuse and violence, most people who commit abuse and violence do grow up in abusive and violent homes. We need to address that trauma.

Under Mary’s leadership, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s will bring a research and data-driven, trauma-informed approach to public safety. The office will prioritize prosecution of violent crime, and strive to bring real accountability and opportunities for rehabilitation for people who do engage in violence.

This approach will prioritize the swift prosecution of violent, dangerous crimes. Mary will support law enforcement in their efforts to investigate violent crimes and identify those responsible. And she will support her prosecutors as they pursue these cases in a data-driven way to bring outcomes that make our communities safer, including incarceration.

But decades of lived experience, supported by research and data, shows that we cannot simply prosecute and incarcerate our way to true community safety. When we overemphasize punishment as the purpose of prosecution, we de-center victims and lose focus on what our true goal should be -- stopping abusive and violent behavior to bring meaningful accountability for a crime in the hopes of preventing more victimization in the future.

That’s why Mary will partner with other government entities, community organizations, schools, and law enforcement on evidence-based prevention and intervention approaches that seek to address the underlying causes of violence.

In addition to prosecution and incarceration in appropriate cases, Mary’s approach to community safety will include:

Offering restorative justice practices as an option for victims.
Advocating for community-based alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases, including supporting these alternatives at the legislature and pushing for increased funding.
Partnering with schools, families, and others to ensure children who commit crimes have options with structure and support to help them succeed.
Closely coordinating with community corrections officials to improve the quality and effectiveness of supervision.

Abortion Rights

Upholding the principles Roe vs. Wade stood for

The flawed and politically motivated decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs. Wade will not sway Mary's commitment to protect access to healthcare in Minnesota. In the fall of 2020, Attorney General Keith Ellison and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi joined with colleagues from around the country pledging to decline prosecutions of personal healthcare choices criminalized under laws that have already passed in some states — and which Minnesota Republicans would surely pass were they to take power at the State Capitol this November.

As County Attorney, Mary will do everything in her power to uphold the principles Roe stood for and to protect abortion access in Hennepin County. Mary will join with Attorneys Choi and Ellison in defending reproductive rights.

Victim Support

Supporting Victims of Violent Crime

Victim safety depends on transforming the behavior of those who commit violence and abuse. Mary will center victims in the office’s work and seek to fulfill victims’ desire for accountability that leads to an end to the violence and abuse -- for the victims, their children, and others not yet harmed.

Nearly everyone Mary represented in 31 years as a public defender was a victim of crime – often of unimaginable violent crimes. As a victim of violence herself, and having worked with thousands of survivors and their families, Mary understands deeply how lost and afraid people are after experiencing violence.

As Hennepin County Attorney, Mary will significantly build out the victim-survivor support function of the office. Survivors of violence -- and the families of those who do not survive -- have a right to have their voices heard and to understand why the office is taking a particular approach to their case.

Mary will ensure that victims and their families are offered a transparent and accessible process they can engage with and participate in as they desire. Under her leadership, the county attorney’s office will prioritize victims’ needs for healing, safety, and justice by collaborating with community programs to expand the range of services and support available to them.

But, sadly, not every victim of violence is able to see the person responsible held accountable. Many cases of violent crime, including many of the carjackings recently in the news, go unsolved by law enforcement. Victims of those unsolved crimes deserve support, too. Under Mary’s leadership, the office will be in the community, building relationships, and aiding efforts to support victims, no matter their circumstances.

Police Accountability

Building Community Trust in Law Enforcement through Accountability

We need to build trust between our community and law enforcement. Everyone deserves to feel safe in their interactions with law enforcement. Law enforcement plays an essential role in keeping our communities safe and it is critical the community has confidence and trust in them.

Mary is not an expert in police tactics and techniques. But she knows from decades of courtroom experience how good police work allows for successful prosecution and gives us an opportunity to address violent behavior. She also knows how unethical and illegal police conduct can torpedo prosecutions and make our communities less safe.

Under Mary’s leadership, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will contribute to the process of building trust by creating a police accountability unit within the county attorney’s office. This unit will work with police leadership on training, development of officers, and holding officers accountable when they break trust and commit crimes.

The unit will collect data to identify officers with patterns of misconduct or misrepresentations. When officers violate community trust, the office will work with police leadership to ensure officers receive appropriate and accurate training on proper constitutional procedures.

When police officers commit crimes, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will charge those officers and hold them accountable.

Additionally, Mary strongly believes prosecutorial decisions in cases of police brutality should be made by the county attorney herself. Not long ago, prosecutors took these cases before secret grand juries. Now, they often outsource these decisions to prosecutors in other jurisdictions who are not accountable to Hennepin County voters.

Mary will not ask other elected county attorneys who represent other communities to handle these cases. She will focus on making charging decisions that put our community first. Mary will make these decisions herself, stand up and communicate her decisions to the public, and let the people of Hennepin County hold her accountable for those decisions.

Racial Disparities

A Data Driven Approach to Eliminating Racial Disparities

We know that structural racism and implicit and explicit bias have created conditions in our community that can lead to desperation, despair, and violence. Policies and practices that lead to and exacerbate disparities erode trust in the system and make our communities less safe. Mary will use the platform of the Hennepin County Attorney to advocate for investment in communities to eliminate these conditions.

As long as racial disparities exist in our legal system, it will never be fair. Mary has worked throughout her career to highlight the racial disparities in our court system. Under Mary’s leadership the Public Defender’s Office collected data to show racial bias, including that arrests were 98% African or African American during marijuana stings on low-level cases in Minneapolis.

Mary has written several pieces about the use of pretextual stops to stop drivers based primarily on their race alone. In 2019, Mary highlighted that 55% of drivers stopped for equipment violations (lights, license plates, mirrors, etc.) were black, while the black population of Minneapolis is just 19%.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, under Mary’s leadership, will collect data on racial disparities. The office will examine each decision point in the system and work to eliminate racial disparities through culturally-competent decision making. Policies will be created and monitored through a racial equity lens.

Mary’s office will be transparent with the community about how decisions are made, why they are being made, and what data are being collected to evaluate them. The office will share information with the public, as transparency is crucial to building trust with the community.

The office’s focus on racial equity will extend beyond the criminal courts to the juvenile and child protection systems as well. The decision to terminate parental rights, permanently separating families, has historically been racially-biased. Mary’s office will collect data and make sure that the decision to terminate parental rights is only done when necessary to provide children a safer and better outcome.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will focus on eliminating racial disparities by:

Evaluating incoming police traffic stops and arrests for racial disparity and using culturally-competent decision making to avoid perpetuating disparities. Mary will also work with law enforcement officers to make sure that stops are based on an objective race-neutral basis.
Collecting data and examining charging decisions involving “consent” to search individuals. In many instances consent is not voluntary due to the unequal power dynamic between law enforcement officers and members of our community.
Working to assist and ease the expungements of unjust arrests, charges, and convictions.

Juvenile Justice

Effective and Age-Appropriate Solutions for Juvenile Crime

Kids are just that: kids. Research shows that the decision making part of the brain responsible for impulse control and risk taking is not fully developed until the age of twenty-five.

Mary’s office will hold kids accountable for the crimes they commit. The goal of that accountability will be to protect the community and to help kids develop better decision making and avoid reoffending.

Mary believes kids deserve the right to fully develop and have the same opportunities to thrive. Her office will focus on supporting the victims of crimes committed by kids, rely on the most recent, evidence-based approaches to address crimes committed by kids, and invest in restorative justice models of dealing with juvenile crime.

Juvenile justice systems should help prevent reoffending through structured risk and needs assessments, and using interventions rooted in knowledge about adolescent brain development, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice practices.

Common Sense Bail Reform

A Common Sense, Public Safety Approach to Bail

The current bail system in Hennepin County has become a lightning rod and is not helping to make our community safer. Our wealth-based, cash bail model is neither equitable nor effective. Impoverished and homeless people might sit in jail unable to pay $78 bail on a trespass charge, while individuals accused of heinous violence can be out within hours after posting a small pittance of their wealth.

Mary recognizes that bail is a right, enshrined in the Minnesota Constitution, and is committed to a fair analysis of the issues at the time criminal charges are filed. Her office will apply a common sense, data-driven approach to ensuring that people charged with crimes take their cases seriously and come to court.

Mary’s office will argue for appropriate bail for individuals charged with violent offenses.When determining the amount of bail to seek for persons charged with violent offenses, prosecutors in Mary’s office will consider a person’s ability to pay, the seriousness of charges filed, prior convictions for crimes against persons, and any other risk to community safety.

But Mary’s office will generally seek to give people accused of non-violent offenses and who are likely to show up for their court appearances an opportunity to appear for court with no bail requirement. This will be especially true for first-time offenses. But the office will change that approach if individuals show they are unlikely to appear or who present a risk to community safety.

Restorative Justice

Voluntary Restorative Justice Opportunities as an Alternative to Incarceration

Mary has seen the shortcomings of prosecution focused on simply incapacitating a person for some period of time in her decades of courtroom experience. This approach prevents a person from committing crimes in the community while locked up, but does not provide for meaningful accountability or rehabilitation.

Mary recognizes that incarceration is sometimes necessary and her office will seek it as an outcome in some cases, especially for people who repeatedly commit violence. But when we overemphasize incapacitation or punishment as the purpose of prosecution, we de-center victims and lose focus of what our true goal should be. We should be focused on stopping abusive and violent behavior to bring meaningful accountability for a crime in the hopes of preventing more victimization in the future.

Research and data show that non-restorative models of punishment do not prevent recidivism, do not repair families, and cause harm to a community. Incarceration, sometimes a year or more after a crime is committed, disconnects the punishment from the impact of a crime on a victim. Incarceration disconnects the person who committed violence from their community and makes reintegration extremely difficult.

Mary’s office will seek to provide an alternative to traditional prosecution through restorative justice as an option for victims. There are examples of effective approaches throughout the United States that have shown they can work for violent and non-violent crimes. Successful approaches allow the person harmed to have their needs met and start on a path toward healing, while at the same time making sure the individual responsible for the harm is held meaningfully accountable.

Immigration

Working Together With Our Immigrant Community

Immigrants are an essential part of our community. Hennepin County is made richer because of diversity throughout our cities and neighborhoods. Therefore it is important for potential immigration consequences to be a factor when resolving cases to avoid disproportionate punishment for a criminal conviction.

Mary has worked for decades with immigrants. She successfully collaborated with Hennepin County commissioners to develop a more constructive approach for the sheriff’s office’s interactions with ICE. That work resulted in policy changes that are in place at the jail today.

She also spearheaded the policy requiring Hennepin County public defenders to screen every client for potential immigration consequences. She brought in an immigration lawyer to make sure each public defender had access to accurate information to advise every client of potential immigration consequences.

As Hennepin County Attorney, Mary will work together with immigrants and the community to build trust, seek meaningful accountability, and bring about a safer, richer community. She will also require prosecutors to consider the potential immigration consequences as a factor in offers to resolve cases.

Substance Abuse

A Public Health Approach to Substance Abuse and Mental Illness

Substance abuse in Minnesota is a crisis, specifically a public health crisis. Mary’s office will approach substance abuse through the lens of public health and harm reduction.

Many times this will mean not charging people for low level use and instead investing in intervention and treatment. The office will stop charging people with possession of marijuana and trace amounts of drugs, and seek to expunge simple marijuana possession convictions.

For low-level property and drug crimes that are driven by substance abuse, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will expand the use of pre-charge diversion, and the use of treatment that is culturally appropriate, trauma informed, and assisted by medication,when necessary.

The office will seek to set individuals up for success, not failure, by building relationships with individuals with substance abuse issues and connecting those individuals with social service navigators and advocates. Mary’s office will recognize that relapse is part of recovery and seek to avoid revocation of probation solely due to a relapse.

Substance abuse often coexists with mental illness. Many with mental illness are no threat to public safety, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will seek to expand the use of diversion and treatment for these individuals.

Jail will not be used as the main response to mental illness, but instead the office will seek to place individuals with mental illness in the least restrictive environments that protect public safety. The office will make sure to proactively identify individuals in crisis, and work to provide access to resources and support starting at the time of an arrest.

Improving Probation

Improving the Probation System

Mary believes that probation is an important tool in the community safety toolbox. Effective community supervision creates the structure, support, and accountability that can lead to positive outcomes. Just 17% of people who successfully complete probation are re-convicted of a new felony within three years, while nearly 40% of those released from prison are reconvicted of a new felony within three years, according to the most recent data available from the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

But the probation system, as currently designed and implemented, needs significant work. While Minnesota has the 5th highest number of people on probation in the country, more than 60% of prison admissions in Minnesota are due to revocations of community supervision.

The racial disparities that plague the system are also seen in probation. Non-white adults in Minnesota significantly more likely than white adults to be on probation. Black adults are on felony probation at nearly five times the rate of white adults, Native Americans more than nine times higher than white adults, and Latinx 1.7 times higher than white adults. Thankfully, Governor Walz’s bipartisan Council on Justice Reinvestment has begun to take a serious look at Minnesota’s probation system to begin addressing these issues.

Mary will support these efforts and others to make Minnesota’s probation system more effective, equitable, and fair. In her office, she will ensure prosecutors use their discretion in ways that keep the community safe but do not exacerbate inequities. Prosecutors have options to limit the number of years someone is on probation, choose not to use probation in certain cases, and to deeply scrutinize requests for revocations, especially for technical violations.