Section: Courts & Crime

Across the country, cities and states begin battles with corporate pharmaceuticals over opioid crisis

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

Through lives lost to overdoses or changed forever due to addiction and numerous cascade effects such as increases in property crime and demand for services, the costs of the opioid epidemic are staggering. And who’s bearing the cost? People, families, and local places are carrying a lot of it. And now they’re using the legal

Read & Share   sourced from: NPR

North Dakota claims dubious position in rankings of juvenile drug arrests

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

In a ranking of juvenile drug arrests, North Dakota had the 3rd highest total of 27 violations per 10,000 kids. Only South Dakota and Wyoming ranked worse. April Baumgarten with Inforum has the full story.

Read & Share   sourced from: InForum

North Dakota’s Top Correction Officer Learns from Norwegian Example

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

It’s not often you’ll find a ‘Mother Jones’ article referenced on The Minot Voice. The reporting there makes many North Dakotan’s angry because we quickly draw adversarial lines opposed to their editorial positions. But occasionally, they cover a story that’s worthy of consideration. This is one of those examples. North Dakota’s top corrections officers took

Read & Share   sourced from: Mother Jones

Growth in Mandan brings uptick in crime

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

One of the common gripes heard around Minot is related to the uptick in crime. But the problem isn’t unique to Minot. One hundred miles south of us in Mandan, the population has grown dramatically since the last census. And along with it, there’s been an increase in crime and a need to add new

Read & Share   sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

ND’s top correction officer looks to Norway for new solutions to old problems

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

In our country and more and more in our state, we put people in jail. For a long time, we’ve viewed incarceration as the only solution to the problem of criminal activity and recidivism. But is it? More importantly, is there a better solution? A recent trip to Norway by our state’s top correction officers

Read & Share   sourced from: Mother Jones

Judge Rules Ward County State’s Attorney’s Demand ‘Not in Good Faith’

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

Minot area criminal defense attornies and the Ward County State’s Attorney’s office have been squabbling in court recently. The incidents have brought considerable media coverage, and now a ruling against the State’s Attorney’s office. Andrea Johnson with The Minot Daily News has the coverage, but it’s not available online so you’ll have to find it

Read & Share   sourced from: Dickinson Press

Criminal justice reforms have sheriffs worried about shifting costs

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

The battle over who pays what is an eternal one in government, and when it comes to housing inmates serving sentences the payor is often a matter of where the inmate is staying. Is it in a state correctional facility or a county one? And shifting policy as well as a lot of new beds

Read & Share   sourced from: Bismarck Tribune

Self-Driving Cars Mean Cops Won’t Have Excuses to Pull People Over

by: Josh Wolsky  |  

Self-driving cars are coming; there’s nothing to be done about it. Automation, in general, is going to radically remake the way we live our lives and our society, and if we look at self-driving cars as one of the early dominoes, the challenge then becomes what are the second, third, and fourth cultural dominoes that

Read & Share   sourced from: Motherboard