Minnesota’s Somali-Americans Urge New Treatment for Would-be Terrorists
In The New York Times, Mitch Smith reports that Somali-Americans in Minnesota are proposing that three young men accused of being Islamic State recruits should be reintegrated into their communities, rather than imprisoned. Proponents argue that this method would deradicalize the young men and “would be a humane counterpoint to the terrorist narrative that the American justice system is anti-Muslim and strictly punitive,” Smith writes. Federal prosecutors, however, opposed the suggestion, indicating that they would prefer to support rehabilitation after a defendant “admits guilt and commits to turning his life around.”