Subdivision 1. Grants. The executive director of the Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Public Safety shall award grants to nonprofit organizations to create or expand mediation programs for crime victims and offenders. For purposes of this section, "offender" means an adult charged with a nonviolent crime or a juvenile who has been referred to a mediation program before or after a petition for delinquency has been filed in connection with a nonviolent offense, and "nonviolent crime" and "nonviolent offense" exclude any offense in which the victim is a family or household member, as defined in section 518B.01, subdivision 2.

Subd. 2. Programs. The executive director of the Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Public Safety shall award grants to further the following goals:

(1) to expand existing mediation programs for crime victims and juvenile offenders to also include adult offenders;

(2) to initiate victim-offender mediation programs in areas that have no victim-offender mediation programs;

(3) to expand the opportunities for crime victims to be involved in the criminal justice process;

(4) to evaluate the effectiveness of victim-offender mediation programs in reducing recidivism and encouraging the payment of court-ordered restitution; and

(5) to evaluate the satisfaction of victims who participate in the mediation programs.

Subd. 3. Mediator qualifications. The executive director of the Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Public Safety shall establish criteria to ensure that mediators participating in the program are qualified.

Subd. 4. Match required. A nonprofit organization may not receive a grant under this section unless the group has raised a matching amount from other sources.

History: 1992 c 571 art 5 s 10; 1994 c 576 s 54; 1999 c 216 art 6 s 18; 2013 c 125 art 1 s 96-98