Minnesota Launches Grants to Help Convicts Reenter Workforce

Minnesota will spend $3 million in fiscal years 2023-2024 to help Minnesotans who have served their prison sentences reenter the workforce, the state announced Friday.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development said it received up to $10 million in First Step Initiative funding from the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Justice to support formerly incarcerated individuals transition back to the community.

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New Manhattan District Attorney, Backed by Soros, Seeks to Reduce Criminal Sentences

The controversial new District Attorney for Manhattan, New York City has ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking harsh sentences against murderers and terrorists, including life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D-N.Y.) issued a memo on January 3rd prohibiting his staff from pursuing sentences such as life in prison, and even went so far as to suggest that they never pursue sentences any harsher than 20 years behind bars.

“My commitment to making incarceration a matter of last resort is immutable,” Bragg said in the memo. “In exceptionally serious cases such as homicides where lengthy periods of incarceration are justified, ADAs shall consider the use of restorative justice as a mitigating factor in determining the length of the sentence, only when victims or their loved ones consent.”

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Lentz: Minnesota Becoming a De Facto ‘Sanctuary State’ for Child Sexual Predators

Kyle Hooten talking to Michele Lentz

Alpha News recently sat down with Michele Lentz, president of the Child Protection League, for an in-studio interview.

Interviewed by Kyle Hooten, Lentz spoke about the work of the Child Protection League, a nonprofit whose mission is to protect children from indoctrination, exploitation, and violence.

She underscored just how crucial their mission is, given the fact that Minnesota checks in as one of the worst states in the U.S. for the light sentencing of child sexual predators — specifically those who traffic in the possession, distribution, or production of child pornography.

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Commentary: Movement Grows to Recall Progressive District Attorneys

George Gascón, District Attorney

The advocacy group “Fair and Just Prosecution” says the goal of progressive criminal justice reform is to create “a justice system grounded in fairness, equity, compassion, and fiscal responsibility.” Starting around 2016, this movement picked up momentum across the United States, primarily by funding candidates in county district attorney elections. There are now dozens of cities and counties with elected district attorneys that are enforcing massive shifts in prosecutorial conduct.

Reforms were needed. But so far, they have been a disaster.

While the most visible source of funding for these district attorney candidates is the notorious George Soros, the movement is much bigger than the agenda of one billionaire. It taps a core belief of progressives, that America’s criminal justice system is punitive and disproportionately targets nonwhite and low-income communities. It also taps into a sentiment shared by progressives and libertarians, that “victimless” crimes, primarily drug related, should not be crimes at all.

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