State Senator Carolyn Bosn with Bruce Bohrer

Yeah.

So I remember when you first got appointed that that was going to be a background and I've talked to you several times about it.

It's not necessarily something that a business group like us focuses on, but it still is very important.

Public safety is actually something that I just kind of realized.

maybe late to the game, that that's an important workforce issue.

Yeah.

You know, when you survey young people, hey, what do you want in your community? I always think they're going to say, I want a lot of entertainment.

And of course, they would like a lot of entertainment and fun things to do in the community.

Everybody likes that.

But also in their top three is, I want to feel safe in the community.

Right.

So what do you think, what have been some of the key issues that you've talked about in the legislature the last couple of years as you've served around, I don't know, sentencing reform or prison reform or just public safety generally?

Sure, so there's a couple, and I agree with you.

I think sometimes businesses, it is important to them, but it's something that young people really do focus on.

They want to live in a community where they feel safe.

And so over the last couple of sessions, my colleagues and I have worked pretty heavily on ways to improve public safety without necessarily increasing our prison population, finding alternative ways to rehabilitate individuals who have made mistakes.

and also how to set individuals who are coming back into our community, who are reentering society, up to be successful.

And so we've made some changes on those things.

Some things as simple as making sure everyone who comes back into the community has a driver's license, offering incredible opportunities for educational growth and personal growth.

for individuals who are reentering society, but also expanding sort of our diversionary programs, our treatment court programs and making sure that those are an option for as many people as will take advantage of it, right? You can't force someone to join a treatment court.

But I think sometimes when people have that opportunity and they know they've made a mistake, they're willing to accept that help.

And you might be the one thing that prevents future crime when you have those opportunities.

And so we've done a lot of work there.

We've also done some work with juveniles trying to You know, there was a significant push in the last couple of years to address what was seen as an increase in juvenile crime.

And I sometimes push back on that.