Via press release:
November 19, 2025
“The criminal justice system isn’t broken—it’s obsolete.”
— Francis Shen, who will announce his candidacy for Hennepin County Attorney at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center on November 19, 2025
Francis Shen, a Professor of Law and Faculty Member in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota, will announce on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 that he is running for Hennepin County Attorney. Shen, 47, lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two kids.
“The central focus of my campaign is safety,” Shen said. “To achieve improvements in safety, we must innovate. We’re 25 years into the 21st century and it’s time to harness cutting-edge neuroscience knowledge and AI tools in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.”
“In Hennepin County, the County Attorney is the General Manager of Justice,” said Shen. “Just as a GM in sports must do, this is the leader who sets the organization’s culture, and they have to be smart about how to use very limited resources to hire the best prosecutors and staff—and then give those professionals the tools and the freedom they need to do their job.”
Priorities
As County Attorney Shen will:
- Stop the Bleeding: pursue a focused deterrence strategy of violence reduction, implementing the proven and effective Stop the Bleeding strategy.
- Empower Crime Victims: make the County Attorney’s Office work to enhance crime victims’ voices in prosecutorial decision-making.
- Strengthen Law Enforcement and Community Partnerships: develop strong partnerships with law enforcement and communities across the county.
- Upgrade Governance: create the cabinet-level positions of Chief Data & Analytics Officer and Chief Behavioral & Mental Health Officer.
- Focus on Elder Justice: utilize new, evidence-based programs to improve response to elder abuse.
- Create an Emerging Adult Program: create diversion program for emerging adults, ages 18-25, to enhance responsibility and accountability.
- Embrace Innovation: ethically implement neuroscience, advanced data, analytics, and AI to optimize safety.
Proven Leader
At the University of Minnesota Shen develops innovative legal solutions that harness advances in science and technology to produce more just and effective legal outcomes. Shen has extensive leadership and managerial experience, serving as the inaugural Executive Director of the Center for Law, Brain & Behavior, Executive Director of Education & Outreach for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network, and leading multiple million dollar projects with diverse teams. Shen holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from Harvard University.
His pathbreaking work has been recognized by the prestigious American Law Institute (ALI). The ALI awarded an Early Career Medal to Professor Shen, one of two medals awarded every other year, for being “a pioneer in establishing the interdisciplinary field of law and neuroscience.”
A Clear Choice and Winning Strategy
Shen is entering this race not only because he knows he can elevate the public discussion regarding safety and justice; he knows he can win.
“The choice is clear,” said Shen: “If you choose a candidate with the typical experience, you will get the typical results. I’m the only candidate talking about proven, effective violence reduction strategies; the only candidate who has implemented neuroscience-informed justice innovations; and the only candidate who is coming from outside the existing political and prosecutorial systems. I am the definition of an outsider candidate. If you like the status quo, I am not your guy.”
Shen will be running a people-centered campaign engaging directly with the safety concerns of Hennepin County residents. The campaign has established a Campaign Headquarters on 4th Street in the heart of Dinkytown. The HQ will be a space for volunteers to meet, phonebank, and participate in canvassing. “Our volunteers will lead us to victory.”
Professor Shen’s campaign launch party will be held at the McNamara Alumni Center (Heritage Gallery). Reception starts at 6:00 pm and remarks will be at 6:30 pm.
Another candidate from the academic elite, with absolutely no actual real-world experience.
And while his ideas on brain science are interesting, he is still worrying about the criminal — not the taxpaying citizen victim! Haven’t we had enough of that? We don’t need to find more excuses for criminals preying on victims.
Anders Folk all the way
Never been a prosecutor. Never been a public defender. Never been in court doing criminal defense work. Never managed a large number of attorneys. Whatever good ideas Shen may have, he doesn’t have the experience for the job. The good thing is, there are other qualified candidates running. Hao Nguyen is the best choice I see at the moment.
Shen sounds brilliant and a breath of fresh air with promising ideas.
Whoops—hit return before I was done. Shen’s background, experiences and ideas are far, far preferable to a defense attorney pretending to be a prosecutor. Shen will be a welcome change—at long last.
Nobody should have that job until they live on the North Side or in Phillips Neighborhood on the South Side for at least two years. Lab experiments to implement “neuroscience-informed justice innovations” means nothing to the victims in high crime areas of our city. He sounds like another Mary Moriarty and citizens of those neighborhoods have had enough of her social experiment. The first priority of a Co. Attorney is to get the criminals off the street and keep us safe. They can do the brain experiments on their criminals while they are serving time.