Minnesota
Reducing juvenile crime in Minnesota will take more counselors, treatment options, panel tells lawmakers
Minnesota’s juvenile justice system needs an overhaul — from more staff to better treatment options — in order to more effectively intervene with troubled juveniles before they reoffend.
Those are the key recommendations a group of local leaders and law enforcement officials from across the state sent to the Legislature last week. The group had been meeting since fall to identify ways to improve Minnesota’s system for kids who commit crimes.
A panel made similar recommendations 25 years ago and little has changed. This time, they hope lawmakers will listen — and act.
“What have we been doing all this time?” said Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis. “We let all this time pass and never made a commitment to address this issue.”
Champion was the primary sponsor of legislation that created the Working Group on Youth Interventions last year in response to a spike in serious crimes committed by teenagers.
In Hennepin County, auto thefts, gun possession, assault and robbery are among the most common felonies. The number of juveniles charged with homicide is up in recent years. Between 2021 and 2023, there were 67 homicide cases involving juveniles. By comparison, in the three years prior, there were 29 cases.
Hennepin County leaders, including Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde, who co-chaired the panel, and Sheriff Dawanna Witt, were a driving force behind the creation and operation of the working group. County staff also helped with research and writing the final report.
Nonetheless, Lunde says the recommendations represent challenges facing the entire state.
“We are all struggling with the same challenges, just of a different scale and scope,” he said.
What needs to change
Lawmakers directed the working group to examine Minnesota’s system for youth with severe behavioral problems who ended up in the court system or child protective services. Those kids are typically sent to out-of-home placements such as foster care, residential treatment or secure detention facilities.
The panel was asked to determine if Minnesota had adequate programs and services to intervene with juveniles who have an increasing variety of needs. Its finding: The juvenile corrections and protective services systems don’t work well together, and youth treatment options are typically limited by whichever state bureaucracy they’re involved in.
Many communities have few local treatment providers, which can lead to an overreliance on secure detention facilities, the group found. For juveniles, that can mean prolonged time away from home and family, exacerbating their struggles.
“That didn’t seem right to anyone,” said Joseph Glasrud, the Stevens County attorney, appointed to the panel by the Minnesota County Attorneys Association. “There is a consistent need for mental health treatment for youth in Minnesota. I think it is well-known that there is a gap in the availability of resources.”
There are also persistent racial disparities among youth who are placed in away-from-home facilities. Black and Native American youth are disproportionately more likely to be sent to residential facilities, a disparity that hasn’t changed much in 25 years.
Ways to fix the system
The panel’s report identifies several ways state lawmakers can improve Minnesota’s work with troubled kids. They center around creating a more holistic and accessible system of addressing behavioral problems that are not limited by state and local bureaucracies. Their ideas:
Regional care: Minnesota needs more capacity and a variety of out-of-home treatment options across the state so juveniles can stay close to home. Youth should be eligible for different interventions regardless of how they entered the system.
The corrections and therapeutic systems need to work together and be more culturally responsive. A single, statewide licensing system for out-of-home placements would make it easier to staff and fund programs.
More staff: The state is facing a shortage in mental health counselors and other treatment providers as youth have increasingly specific needs. To close the gap, a workforce development push is needed with easier licensing, competitive pay and collaborations with training partners.
Better data: Minnesota needs a centralized way to collect and analyze information about youth interventions from law enforcement, courts, corrections and child protection agencies to better understand what is working.
“Without the data, we really are running blind,” said panel co-Chair Al Godfrey, field services director for the state Department of Corrections.
More funding: Consistent funding is necessary to ensure policy changes stick, the panel found. They recommended lawmakers probe how insurers and state and federal funding sources affect the accessibility of treatment and rehabilitation services.
What comes next
In its last meeting, held Feb. 14, working group members acknowledged they were sending a complex report to state lawmakers who already have a lot on their plate.
Legislators returned to the Capitol in St. Paul Feb. 12 for a session largely focused on policy changes after approving a two-year state budget last year. Working group members say there will be a concerted effort to win bipartisan support for changes that would help kids with behavioral problems and combat rising youth crime.
One piece of legislation will not accomplish it all. Incremental changes will be needed over the next few years to put the panel’s recommendations into action.
Given all the attention to rising youth crime in recent years, Champion said it is important lawmakers not lose focus.
“There should be a widespread commitment, across this Legislature, to say we want to tackle this issue,” Champion said. “There’s a saying: Many hands make the load light.”
Of the many terrible roster decisions Minnesota sports teams have made over the past 30 years, the worst of the bunch may have been trading Randy Moss to the Raiders for the No. 7 pick in the draft and linebacker Napoleon Harris.
Why are we bringing up a trade that happened 21 years ago? Because the New York Giants traded defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick in this week’s NFL Draft. It was the first time a non-quarterback has been traded for a top-10 pick since the infamous Moss trade in 2005.
Minnesota traded Moss for the Raiders’ first-round pick, Harris, and a seventh-round pick on March 2, 2005. The Vikings used the No. 7 pick on wide receiver Troy Williamson, who never panned out in the NFL. He had 24 catches for 372 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, 37 receptions for 457 yards and zero touchdowns in 2006, and just 18 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown in 2007.
Williams led the league with 11 dropped passes in 2006. Minnesota traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick after the 2007 season, where he played in 10 games over two seasons and totaled just eight catches for 64 yards. He was cut before the start of the 2010 season, and that was a wrap on the former South Carolina speedster’s NFL career.
Moss didn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers with the Raiders for two seasons, but he set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches in 2007 with the New England Patriots. He caught 47 touchdowns in 48 regular-season games with the Patriots from 2007 to 2009.
Whether it was trading Moss to the Raiders, the Timberwolves sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics — or drafting Ricky Rubio AND Johnny Flynn over Steph Curry — or the Twins cutting David Ortiz and watching him become one of the greatest players in MLB history with the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota sports teams have a long history of making terrible decisions.
The Bengals, meanwhile, gave up the 10th overall pick for one of the best defensive tackles in the league. They’ll likely get great production from Lawrence, while the Giants are now under pressure to get the 10th pick right. New York also holds the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s first round of the draft.
By the way, the Vikings had two picks in the first round of the 2005 draft. After taking Williamson, they used the No. 18 pick on defensive end Erasmus James. He was just as much of a bust as Williams, playing in 23 games in three years with the Vikings. He had four sacks as a rookie, but injuries wiped out most of his 2006 and 2007 seasons before he was traded to Washington for a conditional seventh-round pick.
James was cut by Washington in December 2009, marking the end of his NFL career.
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Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who are the No. 3 seed in the Central Division. Wallstedt made 27 saves in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, and Zuccarello had three assists.
“I was definitely nervous,” said Wallstedt, a rookie. “I think it shows that it means something to you. I like a little bit of nerves. I think it’s something good. There were definitely some nerves throughout the day and then a little bit extra rolling into the game. But after the national anthem was over and the first couple pucks started coming, you’re good.
“I wanted to play and I felt like I have been going good. I was a little surprised (to get the start). But I was very excited as soon as I got the news. I just wanted to make sure I was ready today.”
Jason Robertson scored, and Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed in the Central.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen said. “I think two power-play goals for them, two a little-bit bounces for them where we had guys in the right spot. Just even keel. Playoffs are like this. Sometimes you lose a game, you can feel like you’re done. But that’s the mentality you need to have, you’ve got to reset and learn from mistakes.
“First 30 minutes, we didn’t win enough battles. They were just that little bit stronger in the battles and that’s why they were able to make us defend more than we want to. Just got to be stronger.”
Game 2 is here on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).
“We prepped for a couple days coming into this one. Now, we will gather information from this game and continue to move forward,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “For me, it’s game to game and day to day. We want to continue to get better. We won and they [Dallas] lost. It’s not so much being satisfied where you’re at or that’s what it is. We need to continue to find ways to get better.”
Eriksson Ek gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period on the power play. He scored on a one-timer from the left hash marks to finish a tic-tac-toe passing play with Zuccarello and Boldy, who found an open Eriksson Ek with a pass from the goal line.
“I think every team in the playoffs talks about not getting too high or too low. Just enjoy every day and each game and then we will go from there,” Eriksson Ek said. “I think we played pretty good today. The next game is a new game, so we just have to do it over and over every game. We know they are probably not the happiest with that game, so I am sure it’s going to be hard next game.”
Minnesota prosecutors charged a federal immigration agent with assault accusing him of involvement in a February road-rage incident.
Trump administration ends Minnesota immigration operation
Border Czar Tom Homan announced the end of Minnesota’s immigration operation after fatal shootings heightened tension and community backlash.
Minnesota prosecutors charged a federal immigration agent with assault, saying the agent was involved in a February road-rage incident during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 35, faces two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, according to April 16 Hennepin County court records. He has a nationwide warrant for his arrest.
On Feb. 5, prosecutors said Morgan allegedly drove illegally on the shoulder of a congested Minnesota highway in an unmarked SUV and pointed his weapon at two people in another car.
Morgan is the first agent charged in Operation Metro Surge, the controversial Minneapolis-area federal immigration operation that resulted in two American citizens fatally shot by federal officials, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
The charges “reflect an important milestone in our efforts to seek accountability for the harms inflicted on our community during Operation Metro Surge,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in an April 16 video statement.
Second-degree assault with a gun has a presumptive sentence of 36 months in prison if convicted, she said.
“Mr. Morgan’s conduct was extremely dangerous,” she said, adding his actions could have led to “another disastrous incident” in the community.
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to email requests for comment. A cell phone listed for Morgan, identified as a Maryland resident, didn’t immediately respond to a call or text message.
The incident came less than two weeks after two Customs and Border Protection officers shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, during a protest in Minneapolis. Pretti would be the second American killed during Metro Surge after an ICE agent in early January fatally shot Renee Good, 37, while she drove her SUV in Minneapolis near an immigration operation.
Later in February, the Trump administration drew down Metro Surge, which officials called the largest immigration operation in modern American history.
Investigators said they interviewed Morgan, who identified himself as the driver. Morgan told investigators he and the other ICE employee were returning from a surveillance shift. Morgan said he feared for his life and others’ safety, so he pulled up alongside the vehicle and drew his Glock 19 firearm. He said he identified himself as police.
State investigators said neither Morgan nor the other ICE agent reported the incident to an ICE supervisor.
The April 16 warrant, signed by District Court Judge Paul Scoggin, said there was a “substantial likelihood” Morgan would fail to respond to a summons, and officials couldn’t locate him.
On April 18, Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the county attorney’s office, said there is no knowledge of Morgan being arrested yet.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
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