The exasperation and frustrations of officers, prosecutors, advocates for and families of addicts and other victims, and others can be as eye-popping as spotting a discarded needle in a downtown alley. Arrests for dealing drugs and other offenses that make our communities less safe and that put our residents in danger are being made, sure, but all too often we see offenders released and soon dealing again or committing other such same crimes.

Law enforcement and others are left to throw up their hands: “What’s the use?!”

That can be especially true here in Northeastern Minnesota, it turns out, where our district court judges “gave lighter alternative punishments, like probation over prison, at the highest rate in the state in 2020 and the second highest in 2023,” as a Northern News Now

See Full Page