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37 Law & Ineq. 189 (2019)
Finding Their Feet: How Reentry Court Changes the Path of Returning Citizens in the District of Minnesota

handle is hein.journals/lieq37 and id is 198 raw text is: 189 Finding Their Feet: How Reentry Court Changes the Path of Returning Citizens in the District of Minnesota Katie Sreenant These individuals need and deserve our attention, our care, and our compassion, even though it is also our responsibility to supervise and hold them accountable. Re-entry court serves this precise purpose. - Judge Donovan Frank' Introduction The courtroom is the center of the American adversarial criminal justice system. Neatly divided, the prosecution sits to one side, the defense sits to the other, and the judge quite literally presides above them all. In this separated structure, attorneys argue, judges rule, and defendants have their fates decided for them. Twice a month, however, one courtroom in the Warren E. Burger United States Courthouse disrupts this adversarial model.2 Here, the black robe-clad judge steps down from the bench and sits in a circle comprised of defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers and-to the surprise of many-recently released former prisoners.3 These returning citizens have all been labeled as high risk, meaning that they are the most likely to reoffend and end up back in prison.4 The goal of these twice-monthly Reentry Court sessions is to beat those odds by working together to ease the transition as former prisoners reenter society, making them less likely to reoffend.5 f. J.D. Candidate 2019, University of Minnesota Law School. This author expresses her appreciation to the many people who donated their time and expertise to help research and refine this piece, particularly Professor Jane Ann Murray and Rocky DeYoung. She is also grateful to her family for their encouragement and support. 1. Ruben Rosario, They Did Hard Time at a High Price. They Don't Want to Go Back. This Re-entry Team Helps, PIONEER PRESS (Oct. 27, 2017, 9:27 AM), http://www.twincities.com/2017/10/29/rosario-they-did-hard-time-at-a-high-price-th ey-dont-want-to-go-back-this-re-entry-team-helps/ (last visited Feb. 8, 2019). 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Interview with Rocky DeYoung, Cmty. Res. Specialist, Office of Prob. and Pretrial Serv., in Minneapolis, Minn. (Oct. 30, 2017) (on file with author). 5. See id.; see also Rosario, supra note 1.

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