Need help? Contact a criminal defense attorney. Compute an offender’s “criminal history score” in Minnesota: This page is about how to compute a person’s criminal history score. The process is very complicated, and retaining an experienced criminal defense attorney is essential to protecting your rights and ensuring a proper, accurate, and legal criminal history score…
Need help? Contact a criminal defense attorney. As the definition of the crime suggests, identity theft is perpetrated to facilitate other unlawful activities, such as credit card fraud, check fraud, or mortgage fraud. An identity thief may steal someone’s identity to evade law enforcement or avoid arrest or prosecution. A crime may also involve the…
Sexually Dangerous Persons Civil Commitment Law: Changing the Terms of or Ending Civil Commitment The decision to transfer the person to a more or less secure treatment facility or to discharge a sexually dangerous person from civil commitment is made by a special review board panel appointed by the Commissioner of Human Services. The panel…
How long must child abuse reports and records be kept? Records held by local social service agencies, investigating agencies, and schools will be retained on the following schedule. For family assessment cases and cases in which there is no determination of maltreatment or need for child protective services, records must be kept for four years….
How are reports of abuse or neglect in the home handled? When the local social service agency receives a report, the agency determines whether to conduct a family assessment or an investigation. If the report alleges substantial child endangerment, the agency will conduct an investigation. The agency may conduct a family assessment when a report…
State and federal firearms laws govern where and how firearms can be carried, transported, and used in Minnesota. This information brief describes those laws.Various state and federal firearms laws prohibit or otherwise restrict people from possessing, carrying, transporting, and using firearms at certain locations in Minnesota. Most of these laws provide exceptions for law enforcement…
Sale and Purchase of Methamphetamine Precursor Drugs A pharmacy employee who violates the restrictions placed on the sale of methamphetamine precursor drugs is guilty of a misdemeanor.1 Likewise, a person who purchases an amount of methamphetamine precursor drugs that exceeds the statutory maximum is guilty of a misdemeanor. Minn. Stat. § 152.02, subd. 6. The…
Before becoming relicensed to drive after the period of license withdrawal stemming from an implied consent violation or DWI conviction, a person must pass the license examination and re- apply for a driver’s license and pay the following fees: $250 – driver’s license (DL) reinstatement fee (basic fee) $430 – surcharge on the DL reinstatement…
Driver’s licensing law allows DPS to impose restrictions on a person’s license to “assure safe operation.” Under DPS rules, a person whose driver’s license has been cancelled and denied for a third or subsequent impaired driving violation and who has successfully completed treatment and rehabilitation may apply for a restricted driver’s license, a B-Card, provided…
When a person is arrested for a first-degree (felony) or second-degree DWI crime, the person must be taken into custody and detained until the person’s first court appearance, at which time the court generally sets bail and specifies conditions of release. Unless maximum bail ($12,000 for gross misdemeanor DWI) is imposed, a person charged with…
DWI violations may be charged by: citation (very rarely done, and only if a misdemeanor); tab charge when booking the person into jail; and/or complaint prepared by the prosecutor subsequent to arrest. In the case of a blood or urine evidentiary test, the officer typically tab charges the violator at the time of arrest for…
Apart from any criminal penalties that may result from a DWI arrest, the law provides for three administrative sanctions, which can commence immediately upon arrest. Administrative License Revocation (ALR)– Whenever the implied consent law can be invoked during the arrest process, the person’s driver’s license can be withdrawn immediately following any test failure or test…
The community notification law applies to offenders who are accepted from another state under a reciprocal agreement for supervision under the interstate compact. These offenders are assigned a risk level based on their out-of-state risk level assignment. However, if the commissioner concludes that the offender is from a state with a risk level assessment law…
Restrictions on Where Level III Offenders Can Live The end-of-confinement review committee must determine whether residency restrictions should be included in the conditions of a Level III offender’s release based upon the offender’s pattern of offending behavior. Minn. Stat. § 244.052, subd. 3. In addition, the agency responsible for the offender’s supervision must take into…
Requesting a Reassessment of Risk Levels An offender may ask the committee to reassess his or her risk level after three years have passed since the committee’s initial assessment. The offender may renew the request once every two years following subsequent denials. In seeking reassessment, the offender must list the facts and circumstances that demonstrate…
Reconsideration of the Risk Level Determination If additional information becomes available, either the law enforcement agency in the area where the offender will reside or the offender’s corrections agent may request a reassessment of the risk level. Upon such a request, the commissioner may reconvene the end-of-confinement review committee. In requesting such a reassessment, the…
Communicating the Risk Level Determination to the Offender and Law Enforcement The committee must prepare a risk assessment report which specifies the offender’s risk level and the reasons for the committee’s decision.The committee must give this report to the offender and to the law enforcement agency where the offender will reside at least 60 days…
Determining an Offender’s Risk Level The committee assesses the risk posed by an offender who is about to be released from confinement on a case-by-case basis. The committee has access to various data, including medical data, court services data, corrections data, and criminal history data. It considers various risk factors to determine the offender’s risk…
The End-of-Confinement Review Committee An end-of-confinement review committee is responsible for determining an offender’s risk level, which in turn determines the level of community notification that will occur. The end-of-confinement review committee is a standing committee at each state correctional facility and at each state treatment facility where predatory offenders are confined. The committee is…
What is Theft by Swindle in Minnesota? Theft by Swindle is defined by Minnesota Statutes section 609.52, subdivision 2(4), as swindling, whether by artifice, trick, device, or any other means, whereby a person obtains property or services from another person. Have any Minnesota cases elaborated on the definition, elements, tests, or scope of Theft by…
An offender who is on probation or parole in another state and who enters the state under a reciprocal agreement under the interstate compact for the supervision of parolees and probationers may enter the state only on the condition that the offender agrees to register under the law while living in Minnesota. Additionally, the BCA…
Failure to Comply with the Registration Law In certain circumstances, the BCA may make information public about an offender who is out of compliance with the registration law. The offender must be out of compliance for 30 days or longer for failure to provide his or her primary or secondary addresses. If the offender is…
Individuals Subject to Lifetime Registration Lifetime registration is required for three categories of individuals. Recidivists This category includes a person convicted of or adjudicated delinquent for any offense for which registration is required who has a prior conviction or adjudication for an offense where registration was or would have been required under the law. For…
The Registration Period A person must register with the person’s corrections agent as soon as the agent is assigned to him or her, which occurs upon release from incarceration, or if the person is not incarcerated, at the time he or she is placed on some form of release. If the offender does not have…
Verification of Information In most cases, the BCA must mail a verification form to the individual’s last reported primary address once each year, within 30 days of the anniversary date of the person’s initial registration. However, the BCA must send out the form four times per year for those offenders who are required to register…
The court must inform a person who is required to register of the duty to register and require the person to read and sign a form stating that the duty of the person to register under this section has been explained. The court also must inform the person that, if the person fails to comply…
Convicted predatory offenders also are subject to several other mandatory sentencing laws that are designed to minimize their recidivism risk. Minimum Conditional Release Term. If a court sentences a felony-level sex offender to prison, the court must also sentence the offender to serve a minimum period of “conditional release” after release from prison. All offenders…
There are a number of mandatory minimum criminal penalties that apply to certain criminal sexual conduct offenses. These mandatory sentencing provisions are described below. First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct Offenders The court must presume that an executed sentence of 144 months applies to any offender convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. This penalty does not apply…
Need help? Contact a criminal defense attorney. Criminal sexual conduct in the first, second, third, and fourth degree are felony-level offenses. Criminal sexual conduct in the fifth degree is a gross misdemeanor offense; however, certain repeat violations of this crime are classified as felonies. Minn. Stat. §§ 609.342 to 609.3451. The chart on the following…
This post is part of a series recommending changes to how Minnesota handles criminal records and employment. The full report is here: Criminal Records and Employment in Minnesota. Role of Employers and Unions The Committee recognizes that a major weakness of the collateral sanctions work so far is that it has not involved either employers…