Our Reflections on the 2025 Legislative Session

Pictured: MNJRC and partners show up at the Capitol for Justice for All Day on the Hill in March 2025.

As Minnesota’s 2025 Legislative Session comes to a close we wanted to share our reflections on the meaningful progress made towards an effective and humane justice system. The Minnesota Justice Research Center (MNJRC) was proud to engage justice impacted community members, advocates, researchers, and more throughout the legislative process.

A piece of our work included testifying in front of Minnesota lawmakers to share our perspective on various bills and budgets being considered by our elected leaders in the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate. Members of our team testified eight times at the Capitol this session to help ensure data played a central role in our state’s policymaking process. We shared insights on subjects like sentencing, supervision fees, and pretrial data, all informed by our community-driven research.

Here are five key pieces of legislation passed that will move Minnesota closer towards a criminal legal system that centers fair treatment for all, safety, wellbeing, and trust.

1. The creation of a mandatory minimums sentencing task force to determine the impact of long sentences.

2. Expanded access to mental health resources for people on probation and parole in Minnesota.

3. Law enforcement agencies will now be required to trace recovered or confiscated firearms with the goal of improving investigations.

4. A move to decommission Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater–a crumbling, expensive, and inhumane prison–by 2029.

5. The Department of Corrections will now be required to maintain a supply of opiate antagonists, like narcan, in correctional facilities to reduce overdoses.

We're grateful to lawmakers, community members, advocates, and organizations who share our vision and commitment to making an effective and humane criminal legal system a reality in our state. And yet, despite these meaningful steps forward this session, the work to transform our criminal legal system and achieve true justice lies ahead.

Our work will continue at the Capitol, in our community, and beyond through community-centered research, education, and policy development towards the transformational change that our criminal legal system needs and that every Minnesotan deserves.