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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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The law enforcement leadership problem: It’s a no-vision thing
Friday 08 June @ 15:52:00 |
  by DENNIS GEISINGER
As the Council on Crime and Justice in Minneapolis prepares to mark its 50-year anniversary next fall, the fight goes on to change a system of criminal justice that many find seriously flawed.
“I get pissed off at Minneapolis police and Mayor Rybak,” said Guy Gambill, advocacy coordinator for the Council, “They have no vision at all,” he said.
“We have this cycle we’re in,” said Gambill in a recent interview. “Politicians say we have more crime, so we hire more cops, we arrest more people, we build more jails,” he said.
“Then, after the people get out of jail, society says, ‘We’ll give you a second chance, but now you’ve got a record, so we’re not going to give you a job, we’re not going to give you a place to live.’ So people, being people, do what they have to do to survive,” Gambill said. “They sell dope or they steal or do whatever it is they think they have to do in order to stay alive,” he said.
Gambill’s knowledge and experience are considered key to social activists and policy makers adventurous enough to tackle the kind of problems that the cycle of crime and punishment presents. He was a speaker and panelist at Congressmen Keith Ellison’s forum on crime and recidivism at the Minneapolis Urban League center in North Minneapolis on May 30.
At the forum, Ellison rolled out plans to the Northside community outlined in a “Second Chance Act” that he introduced in the U.S. House late last month. Provisions of the bill contain many of his Council’s recommendations for helping ex-offenders break the cycle of crime.
Addressing family dysfunction, educational failure, substance abuse and poverty are key initiatives, mainly “through research, demonstration and advocacy,” according to the Council’s mission statement.
Ellison’s legislation would provide $191 million for drug abuse treatment, jobs training and education, mentoring and other re-entry programs. Minnesota alone has 6,000 people released from correctional facilities each year, according to the state Department of Justice.
Gambill’s advocacy focuses on legislative efforts for a Call-to-Justice program to reduce the racial disparity in Minnesota's criminal justice system and for an Expungement Clinic that addresses the long-term impact of a criminal history on a person's life.
The information age has made it a lot harder to escape from an unsavory past, according to Gambill.
“Used to be,” said Gambill, “You get caught with a joint or for stealing some hubcaps when you’re a senior in high school in Brainerd, you move to Duluth, get through college, apply for a job and they ask, ‘Ever been in trouble?’ You say, ‘No, not me,’ they give you the job and you move on with your life,” he said.
“Now,” said Gambill pointing to the computer screen in his office, “that joint or those hubcaps are going to follow you around for 15 … 20 years. Every time you apply for a job or try to rent.”
According to Gambill, a computer system called Subject in Process (SIP) is available for anyone to use at the downtown government center that can access a criminal file or complaint on any given name.
“What’s an employer or a landlord gonna think when they pull up 15 pages from some complaint filed 10 years ago?” Gambill posed. “Are they going to read all the way to the back and find that the charge was dismissed?” he said.
A record of case data for Ramsey and Hennepin County courts for the year 2004 show that of the 107,808 misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor cases filed, 58,961, or 55 percent, were dismissed.
The Council's Criminal Expungement Clinic has been providing legal help since August 2005 for people with criminal histories (either an arrest or a conviction) who are eligible to have their records sealed.
Efforts by Gambill and his Council to reform laws dealing with criminal records may restore the life of anyone with a criminal record in the state of Minnesota and stand to influence legislation nationally.
Minnesota leads the nation in the disproportionate imprisonment of minorities, according to statistics compiled by the Council and the Minnesota Bar Association. The Council’s Call-to-Justice program has conducted studies examining aspects of the problem and analyzes data for determining action. Working with families of offenders and ex-offenders is one of the key elements being addressed.
“We try to strengthen the family while incarceration is going on,” said Lance Handy, a case advocate for the Council. Handy said he sees at least eight new cases a day at Council’s Southside offices.
“I think one of my biggest strengths is to keep people motivated for change,” he said.
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