On this episode of Plain Talk, state Senator David Hogue talks about his remarkable speech on the Senate floor to flip a unanimous “do not pass” committee recommendation on his resolution to reform initiated measures into a lopsided win in the floor vote. Also, a recent article about crime during the Bakken oil boom was…
Even at Its Peak Violent Crime in the Bakken Oil Patch Was About the Same as the Surrounding Region
Recently my colleague April Baumgarten produced a very thorough report on crime in the region of the Bakken oil fields during the oil boom years. A lot has been written about that topic. North Dakotans are pretty familiar with the “dark side of the boom” genre of journalism which were endemic to reporters covering the…
A.J. Schultz: Address Hate by Empowering Judges and Removing Politics
Everyone is aware of the incident involving those women in that Fargo Walmart parking lot, and the debate we now have about hate crimes legislation. It’s been a long time coming: North Dakota ranks second-highest in hate crimes per capita, and has ranked no lower than second since 2011. The point of any criminal law…
Judge Frank Racek: Offender Rehabilitation Needs to Be More Focused and More Flexible to Work
Recently, the North Dakota legislature passed bills referred to as “Justice Reinvestment.” These measures were designed to decrease the number of convicted individuals sent to prison. Incarceration and its negative effects are costly and detrimental to society. Many of the offenders who are currently locked up are not best served by the prison system. For…
Grand Forks County's Anonymous Crime Reporting App Sounds Like A Terrible Idea
Recently a man was nearly booted from a flight from Syracuse to Philadelphia because, after boarding, he started writing down symbols and notes that looked bizarre to a woman sitting next to him, making her suspect that he might be a terrorist. It turns out that all Guido Menzio was doing was math. He was writing down some…
Why Is Talking About Oil Patch Crime OK, But Not Refugee Crime?
The resettlement of foreign refugees in North Dakota communities has been creating angst in those communities for years now. Some small part of that angst is absolutely motivated by racism and xenophobia, but a larger portion I think represents valid concerns. Locals are worried that the refugees may have an impact on crime, or a…
New Reporting Metric Muddles Picture Of North Dakota Crime
North Dakota’s crime report for 2014 is out and, not surprisingly, it’s a mix bag of good and bad news. “We do have some good news, and we have some very, very alarming bad news,” Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said during a press event about the report today. You can read the full report below.…
North Dakota Leads The Nation In Dudes UPDATE: Not So Much
Update: Whoops, looks like the Washington Post got the numbers wrong. Alaska has the highest percentage of men while North Dakota comes in second place. According to the Washington Post, in most of America women outnumber men. Except upper central to northwest part of the country. In those states there tends to be more men then…
North Dakota's Incarceration Rate Is Up 175%, But Crime Is Only Down 18%
Earlier today I wrote about North Dakota’s drunk driving laws and the impact they were having on the state’s prison population. My point is that sometimes the “get tough” approach to crime doesn’t work very well, doing far less to address the crime than assumed while doing far more to inflate the costs of law…
North Dakota Sees Slight Increase In 2013 Crime Rate, But Down From 2002
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s office released their annual state crime report for 2013. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Rapes, driving under the influence offenses and murders were all down in 2013 from 2012. But drug cases were way, way up. Overall, the state’s number of violent index crimes increased 7.4 percent. Put in…