Minnesota Caps Length of Probation Sentences

The Minnesota Legislature handed adjustments to its probation system final week that can cap probation sentences at 5 years for many offenses, and it’ll apply retroactively, that means these with longer sentences will probably be eligible to have their phrases decreased.

That will probably be welcome information for Minnesotans serving lengthy probation sentences, like Jennifer Schroeder. Motive profiled Schroeder’s case earlier this yr in an investigation into the issues with probation methods throughout the nation. Schroeder was sentenced in 2013 to a yr in jail for a drug offense—and 40 years on probation. Because it stands, she will not be off probation till she’s 71 years previous, in October 2053. 

“I do not suppose I’ve ever met anyone,” Schroeder informed Motive, “even individuals who have murdered different folks or assault or arson, or any huge crimes I can consider, that has a sentence that lengthy.”

The laws, a part of a giant omnibus invoice, codifies a five-year cap on probation enacted in 2020 by the Minnesota Sentencing Pointers Fee. Now, Schroeder and different Minnesotans serving probation sentences longer than 5 years will probably be eligible for resentencing.

On the time of Schroeder’s sentencing, Minnesota allowed probation sentences to be as much as the utmost sentence you can get in jail for the crime. Her case was an excessive outlier, nevertheless it illustrated each the issues with the state’s statutory scheme and the deeper points with probation itself. 

Schroeder, who has since graduated from faculty and grow to be a drug and alcohol counselor, testified in help of the laws earlier this yr. “The [number of] folks which can be violating on minor infractions and getting despatched again to jail is astounding,” she mentioned in a committee listening to. “And the concern that you just stay with if you happen to’re on probation and also you’re doing the fitting factor continues to be one thing that resonates with me every single day.”

Probation has quietly changed into the most important type of correctional management within the nation. In response to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of the estimated 5.5 million adults within the U.S. who have been below some type of corrections management on the finish of 2020, greater than half—3,053,700 folks—have been on probation.

Probation’s unique objective was to assist folks get their lives again on observe with out punishment whereas staying accountable, however in lots of states, it is grow to be an alternate system of punishment that units offenders as much as fail. For instance, Idaho has a staggeringly excessive fee of jail admissions for probation and parole violations. In response to a report final yr from the Idaho Division of Correction, 80 p.c of 2021’s admissions have been for parole or probation violations.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported final yr on how an prolonged probation program for juvenile offenders had changed into a “again door to jail,” funneling minors into grownup prisons for technical violations of probation.

Along with quite a few phrases and situations that probationers should observe, lest they be despatched again to jail, additionally they lose many civil rights, similar to the fitting to personal a gun and the fitting to vote. 

However some states try to get a deal with on their bloated, ineffectual probation methods. Earlier this yr, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz additionally signed a invoice into legislation restoring the fitting to vote to folks on probation and parole, a transfer that re-enfranchised an estimated 55,000 folks within the state.