Spikes in disease and crime mar Rounds, Daugaard terms

Habitat destruction, lapses in ethics, crime spikes, increased incarceration rates, more people infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the failure of prisons, human trafficking: all mark the terms of Republican governors in South Dakota. The state leads the nation in the growth of violent crime:

The study from the Pew Research Center’s Public Performance Project, released in late December, charts states by their relative increase or decrease in prison population and their increase or decrease in crime through 2012. What the study shows, according to Adam Gelb of the Pew Center, is that there is no direct link between locking up offenders and lowering crime rates. [John Hult, Sioux Falls Argus Leader]

More people in prison means more STDs are incubated:

Chlamydia was the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in South Dakota in 2012. That’s when the South Dakota Department of Health received 3,924 reports of the disease – the highest ever reported for one year in the state. In 2012, there were 707 reports of gonorrhea, with approximately 57 percent coming from adults between 15 and 24. Like chlamydia, the American Indian population was disproportionately affected. About 67 percent of reported cases came from American Indians. [Joel Ebert, Pierre Capital Journal]

From KELO teevee:

Nine men who were trying to solicit sex from teen girls were arrested during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in an undercover sting operation.

The common thread running through these findings? Institutionalized repression of American Indians in the state of South Dakota has led to despair, racism and the mass incarceration of non-violent offenders. And, since 2014 is an election year the GOP is pretending to give a shit. In other words: red state collapse on parade.

If it quacks like a duck....